Silence in the House

Friday night, 7 PM. I just dropped Madeleina off at a friend's sleepover. Chepa called to say she was on the way to the airport to pick up her boyfriend. Italo and Sara have something to do for dinner. Marco is working late today. There is silence in the house.

I love silence in the morning, after some noise, so that I can get work done. I love silence in the afternoon when I go talk with the dogs and the goat and maybe check the tomatoes and cut a bit of lawn. I love silence at 3 AM because it means the world is, for a moment, at peace.

But I don't like silence at 7 PM. I like it noisy then. I like to hear the sizzle of saute' pans cooking up a storm. I like the house full of garlic and onion and maybe a piece of salmon or steak or chicken roasting. I like the house full of all the babies doing a million things at once. I like the house full of the noise of Chepa telling some off-color joke to Italo and Italo and Sara telling her she's crazy and Marco telling everyone to be quiet because he's got two movies going on on two televisions and can't pay attention while all that is happening and Madeleina is playing the piano. That's what I want to hear at 7 PM.

I like to hear the joy of living beings living and laughing and making a ruckus. I love a ruckus. Probably comes from my maternal grandpa, Jack Hooley. A Hooley is a big ruckus on the street in Ireland. Hooley is the base word for Hooligan, someone who makes a ruckus. I've got Hooley blood in me, along with Gorman blood, and between the two, I live for making a ruckus, dancing on the street in Iquitos, singing at the top of my lungs in public now and then, despite the embarrassment my kids have occasionally felt.

So tonight it's silence at 7 PM. Nobody is here and nobody is coming. They are all safe. They are all in good places. You have to know that makes a father feel good. But still, I'd be happier if there was a good food fight going on in the kitchen about now.

Have a good night, everybody. I'm gonna make a little noise all by myself now, just for the heck of it. To keep the house warm.