Our home has comfortable, worn furniture, and walking through the front door always makes me feel safe and protected, like letting everything go and just sigh a breath of relief at leaving the world out there.
It seemed from the traffic chaos which ensued once the last bell chimed musically through the halls at school, that most of the kids at my new school had stay-at-home mom's. In my previous school, you would have had to look high and low to find a kid fortunate enough to have his or her mom at home when they got there.
I go up to my room and pack my books out onto my desk, and then go back downstairs to get something to drink. I spend the rest of the afternoon doing my homework and as the sky starts to darken, I go to the kitchen to start dinner. Cooking dinner is my chore during the week, so when my mom and dad get home from work, we can just sit down to eat.
My mom always gets home first and whirls into the house, usually calling, "Hi, Chrissie," on her way up the stairs. The first thing she does, each day, as she gets home, is have a shower, to wash the day off her, as she always says.
My dad gets home a little while later and he always, always comes to the kitchen first. His stomach rules him and he will follow wherever it leads.
" Smells nice, Chrissie. What are you cooking for us today?"
I smile and say, "Chicken. Your favourite."
He lifts the lids of the pots and sniffs the air appreciatively, while he asks, "So how was your first day in the land of the Jones'?"
" It was actually very nice. A bit nerve wrecking in the morning, but I fit in right away. I suppose there are those who think they are more important than what they really are, but I did not meet any of them - and hopefully I wouldn't have to," I smile.
" Ah, they can't help it. As long as you remember who you are, and you are indeed the most important person in the entire world."
I smile, and then my mom walks in, in a haze of apricots. She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen, and my dad often says we could have been twins, but I do not see the resemblance. Her long blonde hair cascades over her shoulders in a mass of curls, her eyes are a radiant, sapphire blue, her cheeks always have a rosy glow and she has curves in all the right places.