Wheels up, feet up

Shortly after 9:30am today, Mrs. KintlaLake and our spawns left for a few days' R&R in Indiana. Old friends of theirs recently bought a summer place on a lake over there and extended an invitation.

I was invited, too, but honestly I wasn't interested in spending time sunning myself on a bustling, dock-by-dock-by-dock lakeshore, and I said so. I encouraged the three of them to take full advantage of their friends' hospitality.

So off they went this morning -- three tall people, plus luggage, folded into a convertible meant for two. Perhaps even more comical is imagining the spawns going to a place without TV, video games or Internet. The mind reels...

There's no tension around our spending time apart, by the way, no hard feelings and no precipitating event. I never forget that the three of them were a family unto themselves long before I came into the picture, and it'll be good for them to bond again in the presence of familiar faces they haven't seen in a while.

They know all that stuff, even though they haven't said it out loud. They also know that I'll enjoy getting reacquainted with my inner bachelor. So it's a good thing.

The dogs and I have the place to ourselves. When I finish typing this post, I'll fix my dinner, put my feet up, listen to the storms rumble through and watch some tube. (Eat your hearts out, spawns.) I'll take many deep breaths and enjoy my own company.

That's a good thing, too.

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Update, 5:15pm: I spoke with my wife, who'd just returned from a boat ride cut short by threatening weather. Although the house is equipped with a NOAA weather radio, she's been entertaining the group with the radar images she's pulling up on her cell phone. It doesn't look good.

Right now they're under a tornado warning. Fortunately, there's a concrete-block shelter built into a berm in the yard. It should be an interesting night for them.