I have been so busy moving out of the apartment and packing 80% for down at the house and 20% for the next few months that I will be living in my daughter's basement. She is only 30 minutes from work...and I still have to work at the monkey house (another long story.)
There is a lesson here. Children, your parents may return! They may move in, actually, if you have a basement with a tiny bedroom, small kitchen and teeny weeny bathroom. But unlike family members who move back in with laundry, your parents will do their own laundry! They also work as free babysitters, allowing you to check your email or nurse your baby or take that well earned sitz bath at your leisure. Guess what, some of us even pay a token rent!!
As you will notice, your Daddy does the lawn, sweeps the driveway, picks up at day care and is great at BBQ.
Your mom, granny, allows small infants to throw up on her without flinching and can help with planning dinner and shopping. She is also great at playing with Thomas the Train for an hour before her head explodes. And at the age of 60, she can bend over and push a little plastic car around the park chasing her grandson as he pushes the other toddler car for quite a few laps. Of course, after a half dozen laps around the park, she looks a little hunched in the back area when she tries to stand upright. But does she complain about the pain? Never--unless you count that groan that scares the little poodle on the bike path.
Then like the good guests (hired help) that they are, they disappear on the weekends to their own place, so you are left to entertain the people of your generation who also have munchkins and talk about important things like reality TV and football.
In all honesty this little hiccup in our life has worked out far better than one would think. We are a help, we give them their space, and we contribute to costs. (Also, in another 'all honesty' hubby is having his challenges remembering to put every pen, pencil and laptop out of the reach of a toddler. He completely forgot to bring his laptop down this weekend as he had put it high on the mantel and ended up grabbing an empty backpack!)
In return, I have gotten so close to both grandchildren and fully realize how very very very rare and special this time is.
You are a trail blazer! I am in awe if how you adjust to life's challenges and delights. Are you sure about your age? Was there a mistake on your year of birth? I hope I am so adaptable next year when I reach 61!!
ReplyDeleteSo, the kids failed to move and leave no forwarding address, huh? You must be pretty special, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled for you all! You can stay with me anytime grandma. ;) How special this time will be remembered.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a wonderful arrangement for ALL parties. The grandchildren's lives are so much richer because of it.
ReplyDeleteHey, poodles are jumpy and nervous creatures anyway!
Sounds good -- they will miss you terribly when you get into the new place!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these beautiful and amusing thoughts. I envy you being able to spend such quality time with your grandkids. We called our 6 yr. old last night to find out how his first 2 days of 1st grade went. How I love to listen to his excited little voice :) And then we talked to the 3 yr. old. He was excited that he got to stay home with his mommy while big brother was at school. On normal days she works and he goes to preschool..so this was a lovely novelty.
ReplyDeleteYour poem in the above post is excellent.
You have to have a pretty functional family (free of festering resentments, unresolved conflicts, etc.) to live this way. You should be proud, Mom! MLFullFath
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