When I moved into my husband’s huge house with his two children, my dad asked if there would be enough room for me to have personal space. I laughed, “Oh Dad! Wait until you see this place! It’s huge! Of course I will have my own space!” Those silly, uninformed words have come back to haunt me. Yes, it was a big house, but finding any privacy was not easy when two young children were around. In fact, it was practically impossible. I liked to sleep naked. Well, that flew out the window in my first week living there. When a six year old can’t sleep and crawls into bed with you and her dad, you quickly learn that sleeping naked is no longer an option. Can you say awkward? I had the covers shoved around me as much as possible and pulled up to my neck. I felt so naked! Oh, wait! I was!
Trying to do anything that requires privacy was a challenge when the kids were with us. In their younger years, it was all about them during their days and weekends. I understood that it had to be that way. At least half the time they were with their mom, which gave us some time for ourselves as newlyweds. Ha! Not so! Their mom would drive them over unexpectedly to pick up something they needed. There was no phone call, no warning whatsoever. They’d just show up and let themselves in with their key. “Oh! Mom said it was okay to come over. We didn’t need to call or knock.” Oh, did she! That was nerve-wracking. Privacy in our own home was gone.
Now, the kids are older and Aiden is driving. We’ve told them repeatedly that, yes, it is their home, but when we are not expecting them, it’s impolite to just show up. Plus, it scares me! To suddenly hear the door opening up in the middle of the day is rattling to the nerves. A text or call would be helpful. I’m not sure why this concept of a warning seems to be so hard for them to respect, but it is. Just last week, I was upstairs with the Television on, changing for work. I was naked in my room (my room!), with the bedroom door open (because I was alone in my house!), when suddenly my front door opened, and I heard, “Shawn! We are here to get Jake’s video game!” I flew into my closet to grab my robe. I was freaking out thinking that they may have looked upstairs and seen me stark naked (naked seems to be a theme here…) I yelled down to them, “Okay!” It wasn’t okay. Not at all.
Once I calmed down and stopped shaking, and the kids had gone, I texted them. Jessie said she wanted to call before heading over, but she didn’t even know they were going to stop in. It was Aiden who decided to do so after dropping his friend off at the top of our street. Jess told Aiden it wasn’t okay to come over without texting or calling. He ignored her and let himself in. Later that night, I asked Aiden point blank, “Do you want to see me naked?” “Oh God, No!” was his emphatic response. “Then quit dropping by unexpectedly! Text or call first! Always!”