I don’t like being alone. It wouldn’t be far off target to say that I’m somewhat socially dependant. I’ve never been to a bar by myself. I’ve never eaten at a restaurant alone either. I have eaten at a Burger King alone once, but that was because I was driving around on my motorcycle that day, and using the drive-thru wouldn’t have been a wise decision.

I also don’t like being around people. They annoy me. Actually, that’s not entirely true. It’s more of a cop-out excuse than anything else. I’m not good at small-talk, or keeping a conversation going, or starting a conversation, or thinking of things to say or ask when a conversation stalls. I can think of a reason why I could never be friends with just about any person I interact with.

But, when I do hang out with friends, I have a fantastic time. It’s as if I’m a great friend trapped in the shell of someone who doesn’t know how to be a friend. I’m complicated.

I’m getting off topic before I’ve even established the topic. In a nutshell, I don’t like being alone. I very much prefer to be in the presence of Sarah, Tyler, and Delilah than to be home without them. There are times, though, that having Sarah and Tyler out of the house works out pretty well.

Like this past weekend.

I played video games, wrapped presents, built a two-stage shutter release switch for my camera (so I can take pictures up to ten feet away from the camera), rebuilt/reinforced our couch frame (staple guns are awesome, by the way), vaccuumed and steam-cleaned the second floor and the stairs, and cleaned the baseboards and window sils in a few rooms. If they were home, I probably would have done little more than watch football and just hang out. And then, of course, I would have been in a panic coming into this week about getting presents wrapped before Christmas. It’s bad enough that I used newspaper and duct tape on a couple presents (I ran out of scotch tape and didn’t want to use an entire roll of wrapping paper on one gift); could you imagine if Sarah and Tyler came downstairs Christmas morning to have their gifts stuffed in plastic grocery bags because I didn’t get the wrapping done?

And let me just get this out there. I’m 99% sure that there is *something* inside steam cleaners that make the water dirtier/muddier than normal. I find it difficult to believe that we live in such filth. If you’ve never steam cleaned your carpets, I implore you to do so and witness the nastiness of hairy, dirty water yourself. It’s a game changer, for sure.

When my wife and son returned from their weekend fun late Sunday afternoon, I was still in the pajamas that I wore all day Saturday, all night, then all day Sunday (don’t judge me, we’ve all been there!), and was in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes. I was eager to have them home and decided my shower could wait a little longer, so that I could spend some time with my family before Tyler went to bed. And boy am I glad I did. Tyler spent some time hugging me and telling me (in babble and a few words here and there) about his weekend. We watched a few minutes of football together and, at halftime, he decided to play with Delilah.

It was hilarious. She chased Tyler around, smothering him with kisses. On the few occasions that Delilah took a rest from the action, Tyler would charge her and throw his favorite blanket over her head, perpetuating the madness and keeping Sarah and myself highly entertained. Listening to Tyler laugh, nearly nonstop, for fifteen minutes is pure bliss. Especially since he’s working on molars and hasn’t been a very happy boy lately.

Welcome home, family…