It is now December and National Novel Writing Month is complete. (Did I mention I made it to 50,000 words? I did mention it? Oh. Right. Sorry to bring it up again…but did you know how hard that was? I finished almost a whole novel!) Now it is time to reintroduce myself to my children and husband.

So far it has had mixed results.

Last night I was whistling. I whistle. I know this is not a common habit these days, but sometimes I do it without realizing it. My middle son does it too. He got in trouble at school for whistling a tune in the hallway, and I just wanted to explain to the teacher that he only does it when he’s happy, so it was a good thing that he was whistling. I don’t think she’d agree.

Back to last night — I was whistling in the kitchen. I hit an impressively high note, and I looked over to see my husband covering his ears. Perhaps it was too loud? The funny thing was that he looked to my oldest son for validation, and my son said he didn’t even hear it. I managed not to laugh in my tiny moment of victory. You’d think that was enough annoyance, but there’s more.

I also sing.

Usually this gets my kids in a twist because they don’t like me singing along with music. But last night there was no music, so I was making my own. I have an amazing talent to be able to mimic other singers (okay, maybe it’s not so amazing and I might not sound exactly like them, but it’s still fun. Try it and you’ll be hooked, especially if you try to convince everyone around you that if you just had the connections you could have been that person on the radio). The song I was singing was in the tradition of Ethel Merman, and I forgot that my husband was on call this weekend. Suddenly he evacuated the area and I found out later that he was trying to take a work phone call and couldn’t hear because I was singing so loudly. Whoops.

Here’s a video of one of Ethel Merman’s last performances, in case you’re curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62MrU8mHx4

The kids seem to be taking it better. I played an attacking game with one son last night, played a chasing game with my daughter, and body-slammed my eight-year-old in a wrestling match. These were all met with happy squeals and laughter that lasts so long it leads to the hiccups. Clearly, their regular mommy is back. (Don’t worry, no one gets hurt…usually. This is just one way we play.)

NaNo was great and I’m looking forward to finishing the two chapters that remain until the novel is complete. But it’s also fun to have mental energy to be more present with my family. That’s why I don’t write a novel in a month every month! No one around me could stand it, except my long-suffering husband, who might be hoping I get another project idea so I can go back to the quieter version of myself. The odd are not in his favor.