The Days I Really Love

The best days are the ones that end with me and the kids at home alone. We lounge around the living room, talking over a program none of us is watching, eating food that we like and is generally healthy but will never be Instagram worthy. We are relaxed and unstressed and not worried about phones or emails, just sharing space and enjoying living together.

I don't get a lot of these nights, but the dozen or so I have all rank as highlights of the Au Pair experience.

So tonight, putting Luke to bed in our first actual tucking in experience, I was happy enough with this job to forget to remember that I leave in four weeks (for almost 34 minutes). Dublin is coming. And if every night had been like this, the best part of being a substitute parent, being needed, I don't think I would want to get on that plane.

No matter the mixed bag this year has been, I'm genuinely going to miss these kids and the quiet, normal times they let me spend with them.