The Chaos of July by Diane Burton

July has been a chaotic but delightful month. Last month, I wrote about how our lives were changing. As with most things, we've had the good and the bad. Our house, which is a nice size for two of us, expanded with the addition of our Arizona family--our son, daughter-in-law (5 months pregnant with twin boys), and Toddler Girl, along with a Great Dane and a Labrador Retriever. We haven't had a dog in over seven years. Amazing how loud they are when neighbors dare to walk down the street, or kids play or walk their own dogs. The dogs do help when solicitors come to the door by barking so loud I can't hear, and the solicitor stumbles away from the door.

Within a little over a week, our son and DIL went to work. How fortunate for them, their employers had places for them. DIL is able to work from home. She's taken over my office, which I don't use to write. They've hired a sitter to watch Toddler Girl part-time while Hubs and I fill in. Meanwhile, their house in AZ sold, and they searched for a house here. Last week, they found it. Hopefully, all will go well with the purchase and they'll be able to move in at the end of August. I'm so happy for them. Not that I want them to leave, but we all like our own space.

The good part has been the time with our granddaughter. She's a delight, and she's two. I saw this definition on Facebook. It's right on.

Toddler (n.)

Emotionally unstable pint-size dictator with the uncanny ability to know

 exactly how far to push you towards utter insanity before reverting to a lovable creature.

I could wax poetic about what it feels like when she crawls up on my lap and gives me a big smile . . . then reaches around me for my cell phone so she can look at pictures of herself and her cousins and play games her indulgent grandmother loaded on said phone. Her vocabulary increases daily. Besides "phone" her favorite word is "iPad" (which also has pictures and games). Another wonderful moment was when DIL asked if I wanted to go with her for an ultrasound. Would I? Wisely, she didn't get between me and the car. What. A. Thrill. Seeing those babies in real time is a miracle. The tech was wonderful as she pointed out a foot, a leg bone, a spine (which I kinda figured out), and the appendage confirming gender. Watching the heart beat! On both of them! I can't even begin to describe my feelings. Awe. Wonder. (Where's my Thesaurus when I need one?)

That all has been the good which overshadowed the bad. My computer. When we learned about the changes this summer, I resigned myself that writing would go on the back burner. Even so, I had commitments, like regular blog posts here, on Paranormal Romantics, and my own blog. I limped along most of the month with a laptop that worked then didn't, frequently. I took it to the Geek Squad, who rescued my files and pictures (huge thanks). But after three trips, they told me fixing it would cost more than a new computer. Now, I have a tentative budget for my writing business, and it didn't include a new laptop this year. Last Thursday, the computer wouldn't open at all. What could I do besides research computers on my iPad (when I can get it away from Toddler Girl)? I broke down, "borrowed" money from the family coffers, and got a new one. Thus ends the bad stuff. I hope.

On another note, I thought of Leah last Saturday as we traveled to Chicago for a niece's wedding. I loved her message to her son and thought of that message as our niece and her spouse said their vows and celebrated. At weddings, I think of our wedding ceremony forty-plus years ago and all we've gone through over the years. Like this month, we've had our good and our bad times. And I'm sure we'll have more over the next month and years. Accepting change, going with the flow, trying to keep everything on an even keel will help us through the summer. Writing will come again. The house will be quiet. And I'll miss the chaos of this summer.

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction, and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and the Alex O’Hara PI mysteries. She blogs here on the 30th of each month, on Paranormal Romantics on the 13th, and on her own blog on Mondays.