Many factors are at play here, the primary one being the presence or absence of children. Beds remain carefully made, the kitchen counter uncluttered, the dirty clothes basket empty.
Mornings are quiet, afternoons are quiet, evenings are quiet.
Competing radio broadcasts and kids' voices swelling to overpower one another give way to the soft patter of the cats' paws scuttling across the hardwood floor. Bedtime ceases to be an issue. When I first became a single parent, the temporary absence of my children was liberating. Defiantly, I would drop my clothes on the bedroom floor and leave them there for days since daily laundry duty was no longer required. Long years of primary responsibility for the care and feeding of four kids prepared me for the break I felt I deserved.