[Seek] Quiet Amidst the Cacophony

I once came home after two hours running errands, my husband home alone with our young children. Seconds after I walked through the door, my husband looked me in the eyes and sincerely asked me how I survive day to day. He explained that our children didn't stop talking the entire two hours - asking questions, arguing, making requests, playing, singing. I laughed in response. Welcome to my world!

Quiet, to me, is relative. 

I live in a house with a husband, five homeschooled children, and any number of other children on any given day. These children, now teens mostly, have lively discussions about various topics including game strategy, book and movie storylines, and whose dishes are in the sink. They watch movies, play games, practice instruments, video chat with friends, continuously producing some form of noise or another. Our house is not a quiet place.

We spend Tuesday evenings eating dinner with a lively bunch of people at church. We spend Fridays at homeschool co-op with thirteen other families. We usually have music playing on our rides to and from activities and at least half the time we're singing along. There is rarely a moment that isn't filled with conversation, laughter, music, even strange sound effects.

My children attend teen coffee house open mic nights, dance parties, paint nights, and other events at Epoch arts, which are always rich with music, laughter, fun, and the occasional teen drama. I'm usually doing door for these events, so am right in the midst of it all. 

What most people perceive as cacophony, I experience as joy, hope, happiness, love ... as youngsters exploring their world, building relationships, learning to navigate life, and just plain having fun. Shifting my perception in this way helps me survive the chaos of my life and appreciate the rare moments of actual quiet I encounter along the way.