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<p>BANG – the sound of Cathymee nailing it right on the head! There’s hope. Of course we still want visits forever, but hopefully less like tornadoes and hurricanes as they mature.</p>
<p>The text messaging thing works great! We do the same thing.
Our house has turned into sort of the hangout, so the messes are great. Son does a so-so job of picking up at the end of the night, but there’s still a sink full of hardly rinsed dishes, waiting to go into the washer, and other stuff laying around the house- shoes, socks, wrappers, empty cans, crumbs everywhere. I’d call what he does more like a preliminary cleaning. I always heave a sigh of relief when they drive off, but then look forward to seeing them again.</p>
<p>It’s Monday night where I live, and I just dumped the last of the leftovers and put the bowls in the dishwasher. I think I ran it an average of four times a day from Thursday to Sunday.</p>
<p>Oh, but it was worth it! The empty nest has just about killed me this fall after years of our home being hangout central for daughter and friends. All of our own family is far away, but we had lots of Thanksgiving dinner guests, and several commented that it really felt like being at home. We have a Vonage phone and so were able to offer everyone the opportunity to call all their families back in the states at no cost, so that was nice.</p>