I had my house to myself for three whole hours today. Two of them I spent asleep. The other was in pieces before and after the sleeping. It was so marvelous to have the house quiet. No one needed anything from me. No one called. The doorbell did not ring. Days like today I understand the attraction of the hermit life. I could use another three hours just like it.
I don’t get another three hours of quiet today. I have to pick up the kids from school and resume answering their needs. But I don’t mind too much, because the quiet hours today reminded me that quiet hours exist. I will get to have them again. I may even get to have them tomorrow.
I don’t have an infinite capacity for the absorption of silence. If I had uninterrupted days of silence, I would soon be longing for interruption. I would be longing to be necessary and needed. I just crave silence right now because the needs have been abundant and the silence has been scarce. I think a better balance is in my future, possibly before New Years. With the turn of the year, the kids will settle more. They will not need so much intervention. So I may have a peaceful month in January before business tasks fill up the available space as we gear up for a Schlock shipping.
Until then, I will treasure the small spaces of silence I can find and protect them from random small tasks.