I Think I Hear a Who

To wrap up Spring Break, on Friday, I took the boys to see Horton Hears a Who. Eric just left this afternoon to go out of town again, to Adak Island (in the Aleutian Island chain) this time. Having plenty of "alone time" once again, I got to thinking. Among other admittedly random thoughts, I started thinking that blogging is kind of like Horton and his ability to hear the Whos when nobody else can.

Despite what it feels like sometimes, I know somebody, somewhere is actually reading this blog. I have a statistics counter right on the blog that tells me so, and it doesn't lie (at least I like to believe it doesn't). By the number of hits the blog randomly gets on certain days, my handy stats counter also tells me that it's not just my family "tuning in" to read. The stats aren't necessarily so remarkable, it's just that our family simply isn't that big. The stats are like the Whos talking to me. When I sit down and post a blog, I know people are logging on to read, even though I can't see them.

Sometimes, in kind of a wierd way, those silly stats have a way of making a lonely day seem a little less lonely. Don't fret, I'm not going into some deep depression, it's just that there are days when I crave adult interaction! After having the kids home 24/7 for the last week and now that Eric has left town, I feel like I'm in a bubble. If I don't make an effort to leave the house, I could literally go for days without physically seeing another adult around here. I can't really explain it, it's not necessarliy that I'm all that lonely, it's more of an almost Twilight Zone type feeling. At times it seems like we live in a community where kids exist on their own, without adults. I never see the adults! When I go peek on the kids playing outside in the cul de sac, riding bikes or playing in a neighbor's yard, I rarely see another parent out and about. I don't crave friendship as much as I just crave seeing another adult.

On a family drive this morning, I had a funny interaction with my husband. It was both humorous and, for lack of a better term, a little "sad" too. Although he'll say it isn't so, at times, Eric has a bit of a habit of mumbling. As we pulled out of the neighborhood this morning, half to me and half to himself, Eric mumbled something. The only two words I heard him say were "birthday party". We don't have any birthdays coming up until May, so I was perplexed by "birthday party" and I must have given him an odd look. He then pointed to some balloons I had overlooked on our neighbors drive and reiterated, "birthday party". The mumbling actually made perfect sense.

Later, while we were still driving, Eric once again mumbled something, apparantly, to me. I didn't know he was talking to me, so I didn't even acknowledge that he said anything. I thought he might have been, so I did look in his direction. When Eric caught my eye, he turned toward his window, started pointing at it and talking to the air, like a homeless person does on the street. It made me laugh out loud and as I sit here typing this, it still cracks me up to visualize his antics.

Although I laugh at my husband for mumbling, when I blog, it sometimes feels like I'm the one mumbling. Blogging is a great outlet for me personally and creatively so I continue to do it, but at times I wonder if anybody is really "listening". As long as my friend the stats counter shows me that people are still logging in, I suppose I'll continue to listen for the Whos.