Sweet Sorrow

Sweet Sorrow

Wow what a whirlwind few days we’ve had here at command central. Food, games and lots of down time for kids and parents to integrate and welcome in the newest member of our village.  Nine bodies in a place that is used to 2 have the apartment sliding into an insecurity complex. NOW I know what they mean buy a security deposit, it’s for therapy for the space after you leave, how clever of them.

Friday evening I was able to play several games with our five year old brainiac granddaughter. She regaled me with her knowledge of “rectangular pyramids” and “symmetrical patterns”….then went on to read a few pages from a book she had never seen. Five, wow !!

Her new baby brother is a hoot and stole the show for the older ones for a bit. He is a mellow fella who enjoyed all the conversation and activities and let us know about it with a constant stream of commentary and opinions……….oh yes, he’s in the right village for sure !

The boys arrived the following day after 15 hours of driving and were happy to see that their standard issue toy box goodies had miraculously added a few new items which made the transition into the “visit” just a tad easier. The older one did a thousand pieces of puzzles in a row and the........ (now I can’t call him this ) younger kept the helicopter squadron in formation for hours on end. Parents made plans, and re-planned as parents do………

One baffling issue that continued to crop up was the kids ability to pull PEZ out of their ears. I asked them each time HOW they did it but only the 5 year old had an answer “I guess we grow them” she said. That seemed to pacify grandpa for a while until they appeared again and again………….These kids have “skills”.

This visit was the first time in almost 2 years we’ve all been together. It was weird in a familiar kind of way.  Heavy stuff was tabled in lieu of harmony and timing, there seemed no rush to “go there”.

Today our son in-law and I went out to a job site while the mom’s and kids went to the zoo. The site was wet,muddy, swampy and mosquito infested ………”A nice place to catch malaria”, I said to the owner……….This site visit of course was a parade compared to the Zoo at Spring Break. Everyone arrived home tired and fussy.

Soon it was time for one gang to head home, ugh.

I carried the 5 year old back to the parking garage whispering to her with each step that she was our favorite five year old girl adding a few extra hugs and kisses along the way and put her in the car with her new brother. I hugged her mom and gave her brother a squeeze before I circled around again to lean in and give her another hug “for the road” and handed her, her new “baby” doll.  She was brave and gave her best forced smile and waved back to me as they headed out of the parking lot.

I was not as brave.