BIG Things I Miss

• Male friends. Sure, I went to an all-girls high school, but then I went to college at a school with a 3 to 1 ratio. As the girls would occasionally say, "The odds are good but the goods are odd." (Exhibit A: Spousal Unit). It's not that I don't keep in contact with some of my male friends, but realistically, I am immersed in a very, very female-centric world. Most of the time, I'm all right, but it's unbalanced. I like androgyny (in actions and attitude, not necessarily appearance), and to get androgyny, I need a little XX and a little XY.

• My creative, academic brain. I find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time. When EG was young, I wrote a decent amount of fic and read serious books regularly. Homeschooling has taken away that creative process for me, and parenting three children has removed my ability to read very many serious books.

• Knowing what will happen next. I like predictability. I like saying, "Next year, we'll do X on this same holiday." Right now, I don't know where I'm going to be living on the next major holiday or birthday. We've wrapped up FB's birthday & Easter, and the next big thing is EG's birthday, in August. I have no idea where we'll be then, and honestly, that pretty much scares the crap out of me.

• Horseback riding. I always miss it, really, but I never have figured out how to make it work in this homeschooling, my-kids-are-with-me-all-the-time life.

• Having a dog. We have an ornery, annoying cat who's nearly 11 years old, but we still don't have a dog. I like the way dogs look at you as if you were the most awesome person ever.