If you’re a parent, you can relate to this.  You know that sound – the sound of nothing?  That silence that isn’t really silence, it’s something waiting to pounce on you and wreak havoc?

I had a little bit of that same silence on Sunday while I was on the phone with a friend calling from Kansas.  We must have been talking too long, I guess; I could hear giggling and squabbling, things banging around and the television blaring Disney cartoon jingles in the background as we chatted.  The kids were a little wound up and restless; they’d been cooped up indoors for too long.  I ignored the racket and let them continue to abuse each other as we continued our conversation.

Then, that momentary void.

It didn’t sink in at first; I must have been off my feed or something not to have heard this nothingness.

I ended my call as quickly as possible; my friend is a mother of an active boy and understood my concern when I said I can’t hear anything.

Imagine my relief when I found only that these two had drawn purple mustaches on their faces and were working on stomach puppets.

Whew.  It could have been worse – like red pen on white walls along the hallway and dining room and the bedroom as well as a white linen table cloth.  The sound of that particular bit of nothing was dreadful.

1:13:29 PM    comment []