Write about going back to school after summer vacation

School is back in for my step-daughter. She's going to be fourteen in October.

I'm an introvert. She's an extrovert. I don't like television much at all. She seems to be able to watch the same 20 Teen Titans cartoons for the rest of eternity.

I want my Quiet Mondays back.

Sometimes it was on a Tuesday.

Quiet Mondays is my day for me. My recharge day. I putter around. I do things slowly and quietly and because I feel like it and for no other reason. Except the dishes. I do the dishes even if I don't want (and I never want to), because I like having them sit there even less. If it's nice out I do the laundry and hang it on the clothes line, because hanging laundry is Zen for me somehow. I play video games. Video games are very cathartic for me. I'm not a super serious, gotta-play-them-all-gamer. I like what I like and I play that and that's it. I have an XBox 360. I like Fable II and III, the Mass Effect series, and I've got Portal, the Halo series, the Assassins Creed series, and some Dragon game waiting. Anyway, sometimes I'll game for a large portion of the day, but sometimes I'll read or sew or sleep. Or cook and watch silly videos. Whatever I want. I'ts MY day. My recharge day. From 7:45 am to 3:20 pm, seven hours all to myself, just for me.

This summer my step-daughter only went to her grandparent's house for two weeks. So all the rest of the summer, no recharge day for me.

"Well, you had two weeks to yourself!"

Funny how that doesn't work the same way as having that one day each week.

School started again last week. And even though last school year was a really (really, really) bad year for all three of us (me, husband, and step-daughter)...

I am so happy. So, so happy. So happy. To have my Quiet Mondays back.

So that's my five minutes (and more!) of writing practice for today. Yay, I'm proud of myself! And because I couldn't find any decent driving pictures, here is Sam and Dean. Because Sam and Dean. I don't remember why the lads got matching tattoos, but I'm sure it was very important. They look pretty serious there.

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester
image property of Warner Bros. Television