Yesterday morning at 10am, I was left with an entirely empty house. Well, the furniture, the beds, the dishes, my shoes and the like were all present, including and all my little domestic furry creatures; however, Iz had departed for a trip to her grandparent’s.
Once again, she didn’t want to budge from home, but John, her Dad, told me how much her grandparents wanted to see her. He asked me if I could do anything to coax her into going. I’m not only adding “cat whisperer” to my resume but “child whisperer” as well.
As I folded laundry, she ran into the my bedroom and said, “Have you seen Plume?” I knew exactly where Plume was, but from under the bed, I heard Plume say, “Shh!” I knew I had to placate Iz for larger reasons, so I said, “Plume’s under the bed.” Sorry, Plume!
I saw Iz disappear under the bed, and they she pulled Plume out. If cats can give you the middle finger, I think Plume was so flipping me the bird just then. I said to Iz, “Grandma and Grandpa would really like to see you.” Iz said, “Aw, I want to stay home with you.”
I had to take it up a notch. I said, “Well, they don’t get to see you much. So, it would be nice if you went for a visit with Daddy.” I didn’t see this coming at all, a very valid comeback. Iz said, “But, I was just there in November.” Indeed she was!
I knew then that I had to take it up two more notches. I said, “Aunt Meg and Uncle Steve want to see you, too.” She scrunched up her face, turned her head to the side, and sighed, indicating to me that she was still not keen on spending time with the relatives.
Though I hated myself for doing it, I had go to extreme measures then. I said, “They have PRESENTS they want to give you.” She unscrunched her face, popped her head up as if she was a turtle poking its head out of its shell, and then said, “Presents?!?! Why didn’t you say that? I’ll go!”
She thought for a moment and then said, “But, I’ll miss you, Mommy.” I had to ice this VisitGrandmaandGrandpa cake. I said, “When you get back, I’ll take you to the aquarium for the day.” She said, “Okay! And, can I get a stuffed animal there?”
Long ago, I had put a moratorium on stuffed animals, as her closet door was already incapable of being closed due to the ever expanding stuffed animal population inside it. (And is it just me, or do stuffed animals procreate like rabbits?!) I said, “Sure. You can get a stuffed animal.” She said, “Yeeeeeeeeeessssssss! I’m going to go pack. Can I use your blue-flowered bag, Mommy?”
I then informed John that he had a co-pilot for the trip. I told him that I had to use the “P” word and offer a trip to the aquarium. He said, very heartfelt, “Thank you.” Since it was the holidays, and I was feeling extra generous in the “child whispering” department, I added, “You might bring along the $50 gift card to Toys ‘r Us from Aunt Julie, because I think if all her presents are clothes, she might be a tad disappointed.” He said, “Good idea,” and then thanked me again.
After she left, I sat at my desk, and I was amazed by what I heard, because it had been so long since I heard it – the sound of silence. Other than the tick-tock of the Hello Kitty clock to the right of my desk, it was all quiet on the Eastern Front. I have to say that I sat in my chair, reveled in it, and then I felt guilty about it.
An hour later, as I began to clean up what the Iz tornado had done to her room and the house while packing, I missed her. I worried about her 12-hour trip (Western Pennsylvania) in the car. Ironically, my free time then was not necessarily "free." Suddenly, it became all about doing things to forget how much I missed her.
Normally, my “to do” list when written on paper looks something like this.
When Iz is around, I tend to start with 1a, but then she asks, “Mom, can I have some crackers?” When I return to the list, I go to do 1b; however, then Iz asks from downstairs, “Mommy, can you help me with this?” Again, when I return to the list, I am downstairs, so I decide to do 3a instead, leaving 1b and 1c for later; and somehow, later never comes.
Then Iz has moved upstairs into her bedroom and then asks, “Mommy, can you read me this book in my bed.” When I resume my list again, I am now upstairs so I do 4b thinking I’ll do 4a after 4b but not before resuming with 1b and 1c, but somehow that never happens.
Yesterday, I looked at my list, and I was able to accomplish everything in order. By the time 5pm rolled around, I had done things I had meant to do for ages, which was good; however, I then realized that being out of order and being with Iz may be what the order in my life was really all about. ♥
This afternoon, I picked up Nate, thereby ending my Home Aloneness, thank goodness. Although, when Nathan is here in his room playing with his X-box, it’s like he’s in his own country - The United States of Nathan, Nathanslavia, Nathanland, or Great Nathan. He’s old enough that he’s self-sufficient, except when he needs me to drive him somewhere!
When he walked out of his Dad’s house, he carried a pile of stuff in his arms, which comprised his laptop, its power cord and mouse, and the cherry on top of all of it was a shiny object, which looked like a CD. He kept pointing to it as he approached the car.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Nathan made yet another music CD for the car. Nathan and I don’t always see eye-to-eye where music is concerned. In a blog post past, I had mentioned a particular 9 Inch Nails song that I could certainly live without.
He got in the car and showed me the CD. On it, it said “Mom’s music” in a circle with an “X” through it. Nathan said, “Dad did this.” I started to laugh. Obviously, Quinn knew how fond I was of Nathan’s CDs.
Nathan inserted the CD into the player, and I braced myself. I looked at Nathan, and he said, “Mom, really, I think this is Mom-friendly music!” I listened, and when I heard the first song, I said, quite amazed, “I like this! Who is this?” Nathan answered, “Modest Mouse.” After a song by “A Tribe Called Quest,” I said again in amazement, “I like this, too.”
I then asked a bit doubtful, “What’s next?” Nathan said, “I don’t know if you’ll like it. It’s all 40s music.” I said, ‘You’re kidding me.” He said, “No, seriously, Mom!” On came Cole Porter singing “Anything Goes.” And, after that was Billie Holiday singing “Crazy He Calls Me,” a song I love. I said, “I love music from the 40s, Nathan. Where did you hear this music?” He said, “Well, my game, Fallout 3 has all these songs on it.”
I had to laugh. Normally, I wasn’t one to enjoy computer games; however, just then, I thought it was wonderful that a game had incorporated such great old songs into its soundtrack, giving younger kids a taste of the very old instead of the usual Nine Inch Nails genre. And, today, it was especially nice to find that despite our different tastes in music, Nathan and I found a common soundtrack, one that we could share forever. ♥
End blog soundtrack:
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