- normal -

We were a normal family, this weekend...
Normal as in: mum, dad, two kids. Not 4, two...

The last time we were a normal family for longer than 24 hours was when Felix wasn't around yet, more than 10 years back. Since his arrival we've been a bit strange, but Polly coming along put the tin hat on... I remember a visit to England when all 6 of us were in a caf in Bexhill, having various beverages, and a middle aged lady had been looking at us, obviously dying to find the right moment to make a comment. "Are they all yours?" she asked? Yes, i said. "From the same dad??" she asked, more bewildered. Yes, I answered. "And you're enjoying this?" Her reaction was classic to me. Eyes rolled, then: "God, i had one and that was more than enough, but 4... Madness..." more mumbling followed and disapproving thoughts were expressed, so i politely smiled at her and concentrated on one of my many many children...

This was the only time anybody ever said this kind of thing out loud, thus far, but looks can say plenty too...

So this weekend - while living in my parent's house - we were the classic two child family, doing nice things together, while the other half of our brood was staying in Roosendaal, hopefully doing nice things together too. In their case that would boil down to not beating each other up and watching endless episodes of South Park... Oh well...

Being a normal family is quite boring, to be honest. Easy, quiet, no arguments over who watches what on telly, or whether or not the little ones should be a lot more quiet and when they went to bed, we had the downstairs to ourselves, but something wasn't right... Maybe one gets used to noise after so many years...

Maybe being normal doesn't really suit us...