Happy Days

Just to be clear, the reason that I had a five hour drive to my appointment yesterday is that I was at my son's house, spending time with him and my granddaughters while mama had a well earned weekend spent with her brothers. There was a concert they all wanted to see, a band called 'Buffalo'. I'd never heard of them, but she comes from a family of real music lovers, and it is a band that they all knew and enjoyed. 

It feels as if I've missed such a big part of the girls' lives. The oldest is five. Along came covid. That was a year and a half lost. We got past that, finally. The youngest is a year and a half old. There was a family situation that put the kibosh on visiting for a few months. We finally all got through that, and then along came Tim's terrible, horrible, no good very bad year.

Long story short, when I get a chance to spend time with those girls, I savor every minute of it. I got there Thursday afternoon. The oldest had school Friday, which gave the youngest and I time to get reacquainted. We had just seen each other in early October when my daughter flew in from the UK for a couple weeks. She's a pretty sociable character. She's not talking yet, but the girl makes herself understood. 

She loves to eat. Her parents have never used baby foods. The kids eat what they eat, mostly. Here's something that makes me laugh everytime I think of it. That girl loves pickles, which is not so odd, I guess, but she will get into the corner 'lazy-susan' cupboard. She knows what she is looking for and when she finds it, she pulls the bottle of balsamic vinegar out, and follows her parents around begging. Initially, they thought to give her a little taste to let her figure out on her own that she didn't like it. But...she does. Very much. They will pour a bit on one of her baby spoons and she will grab on with both hands and pop it in her mouth with gusto, smacking her lips in appreciation. She also will eat a lemon slice right down to the rind. Have you ever heard of such a thing? 

The five year old is imaginative. She loves crafts and drawing, and books. I'd brought along a friendship bracelet kit and we made friendship bracelets for her and her best friend. We had a movie night and a 'sleep over' (which means she slept in my room instead of her own bed.) We played mermaids. I got to see how well she can ride her bike. She's a determined little thing and pedaled all the way to the top of the hill by herself. She was much too fast for me. My son jogged along after her with the baby stroller. I followed along behind them at a distance, walking briskly, but not keeping up. At one point, she got off her bike and walked back to make sure that I didn't get lost on the way back to her house. 

We intended to go to the Philadelphia zoo. We bought them a year's membership last year for the girls 5th and 1st birthdays, which were just a few days apart. Disappointingly, we found that the zoo closes down for two weeks in January for maintenance. 

That called for a change of plans. Tim and I had gotten them a birdfeeder for Christmas and a $50 gift card to Tractor Supply for the seed and suet, so we decided to get everything that they needed to set that up. A local TNR had set up with three kittens they were trying to find homes for, which was great fun for the girls. They cannot have a cat because they have a dog named Izzy who will not tolerate that indignity, but the girls enjoyed their time with the cats.

It was a quiet weekend, and we didn't do anything but make memories. I rarely have time with my son Dylan, so that was special too. There's something soul satisfying about realizing that the boy you raised has become a good man who loves his family. It was nice to have time to simply talk with him. 

That's all I needed, really. Time. 

It was good to get away from home for a while. I feel as if I've been pretty homebound for a long time. 

Tim has another appointment tomorrow. an hour and a half away. The temperature is supposed to be -11f tomorrow, which is -24c. The old house is cold, even with the wood stove going full bore. I baked a batch of molasses cookies just to have an excuse to have the oven heating the kitchen. William spent the day with us and made a batch of chocolate chips. 

So that's it, really. Nothing earthshattering, but happy days.