The boys love to hang out with me and I love that, too. At the same time, because we all live together now, it’s been hard to set boundaries and get a bit of space to myself. Whenever they come home, or come upstairs when I’m in the livingroom, they zap onto me like flies on sticky paper, like I’m the only heat in a cold world and they best cram up close or freeze to death. They read my emails over my shoulder, tap on the keyboard, spill my coffee, crush up next to me and argue with each other over who gets which side. Sometimes, I just need a break, a couple of minutes to have some coffee, wake up on a Saturday morning and read the news, look out the window and say hi to my wife. But I feel bad when I have to tell them to back off. They ask why and promise to be quiet and all the things I know they can’t possibly do for more than a minute. If I insist, they look hurt like a puppy who bumps his head and waddles around licking his nose.
Speaking of which...when the kids aren’t around and I sit on the sofa for a coffee, guess who gloms onto me like flies on a rib roast? Bunnie, Maddie and Gulliver, the 3 younger dogs. They bound over looking for attention like they were abandoned and haven’t seen me for years, jumping, licking and pawing for a piece of the old man while I spill coffee, elbow them back and yell at them to settle down.
Now, if I could just get Tish to do that....
