We have a new family member now. Lucy is an 8 week old diluted calico that we adopted from our local animal shelter. E (my 10 year old) has been orchestrating this move for months now. She is in little girl heaven. Her tiny kitten slept on the pillow beside her last night and woke her up by gently batting her cheek with her paw. She's been prancing around the house tonight, attacking unsuspecting toes and making Roxy (the dog) hyperventilate. She is a trip.
As for the rest of my life, I feel like I am slowly winding up the process of wrapping up an enormous package. One by one, bits and pieces are being wound up and bound off. Piano recital and lessons (with the accompanying planning and transportation), check and check. Girl scouts - check (after Wednesday). Band practices and concerts, check. Career day presentation and PTA yearbook sales, check check, check. Baseball merits no check yet, but possibly will after another couple of weeks. I am not sure where this enormous package will be sent at the end of spring. I'm glad to see it wrapped up but not glad to see it sent away. Know what I mean?
I am not sure that I will remember how to exist on the absence of adrenaline. As much as I enjoy complaining about my (oh so typical) busy mom-of-teens-and-preteens schedule, it is, like it or not, my way of life. I have never been fond of change so the abrupt end to the chaos this summer may not be the reprieve I've been hoping for. In fact, I find myself projecting the summer's loss of activity onto my empty nest years. These are not exactly looming, but they are close enough.
I asked DH what in the hell we did before kids and what we would do after they are gone. He responded by cooking me a dinner that was fabulously full of spices and onions, which is something we've had to forgo when the kids eat dinner with us. It was delicious.
We are such a funny species, we humans. And in particular, we parent humans.
You’re an interesting species, an interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.(from the movie Contact. I find myself repeating this line to myself very often)
Life has been fabulously fun and good this spring. I am short on time and long on things to do. The house is not very clean and certainly not organized, but my kids are smart and healthy and INCREDIBLY thoughtful. No complaints here. It's all spicy food and kittens.
9 comments:
Spicy food and kittens sound good to me. Lucy is GORGEOUS. Tell Erin I know JUST how she feels. When I was 8, I was in love with my cat Jet. Then she got pregnant and gave me 4 tiny kttens. I am not kidding...she brought them to me.
OOps, I think this should be a blog post. You sound like YOU again--AHHH:-). Life--it can be like Mr Toad's wild ride (which Disney World closed unfotunately), but if you are doing it right, it's like that--all twisty and turny and exhilerating and a little scary and yes, spicy:-)
Thanks Lynne. I'm feeling a little more like myself. I missed me. ;-)
Ah, you're living life at it's fullest. It changes, dear, but not necessarily for the worst. Love
Lucy is a cutie. Spices and kittens re a good way to live!
I showed S these pictures and she asked if she could come over to your house. :-D
What is a diluted calico? Calico I know, but not the diluted varity.
Jodie, it's calico, but with gray instead of black. I think it's like a calico but with a dusting of chalk everywhere.
Our vet told us that it's calico in Europe and tortoiseshell here in the US. Erin and I both decided we like calico better.
She is SUCH a kitten. OMG. How cute can she possibly GET????
We have, apparently, a diluted calico. Her name is Pandora, and she is (One of) the Best Cat(s) in the World. My question is: how exactly did your daughter orchestrate this move? Pandora is, unfortunately, old, and while my 8 year old daughter and I have been discussing how to get a kitten who could learn hunting skills from Pandora while she's still with us, my husband is announcing that he's looking forward to being "cat-free." Uh-oh.
abernier,
It was a long haul. We lost Sammy (my first cat) about 2 years ago. My husband is even a cat guy, but he was still adamantly against getting another one. I think he wasn't convinced E would do her share of caring for it.
I let it go for a while (2 years is a long while!!!), but dropped occasional hints about how much E would love a cat - no pressure, just enough of a reminder of how great cats are. I'm not sure I can articulate how I knew, but I just *knew* when the right time was to ask in earnest, and I signaled to E to ask again in her best brown-eyed daddy's little girl mode. She even turned on the watery-eyes near-tears thing. OMG. Such an actress. (scary)
Um. *Who* did I say orchestrated this move???? I guess I'm guilty. ;-) Cats are SO much less trouble than dogs are. And they purr!!! How can you not love purring?
Good luck with that. I have really been loving having a kitty around again.
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