When the phone rings with “Help” by the Beatles, I know it is a call from someone relating to school for the girls. I made it this way so that I would only have my adrenaline spike when I hear this particular ring and not every time the phone rings when the girls are at school. The phone did indeed ring with “Help” this week, and my adrenaline did indeed spike for a moment, but then it turned out to be the most unusual call. It was Sarah’s teacher wanting to share a funny story about Sarah. Apparently, when Sarah was attending one of her morning classes, the printer in her Resource Room started mysteriously printing five copies of a schedule from last year. A couple hours later, the same thing happened again. When it happened for the third time, Sarah was in the Resource Room and her teacher solved the mystery as she walked past Sarah and saw the schedule on Sarah’s iPad. Sarah must have taken a picture of this schedule last year and was sending it from her school iPad to the classroom printer. Her teacher was cracking up and said it made her day. Sarah does love printing things!
As you know, Sarah also loves her Granddad, who is my dad. When I was growing up I used to accompany him for storytelling gigs. He was a History Teller, telling stories from different times in history, dressed in the garb to match that time period and with an entire persona to go along with it. Sometimes I dressed up too and got to help. At one point he made a professional recording of a set of these stories, and we recently got a small cassette player that has a regular speaker so you don’t need headphones. The first tape I put in it was of my dad telling stories. Sarah’s face lit up and she held the speaker close to her ear, delighted to hear Granddad’s voice. Later in the week he told me he had recordings of almost all of his stories! He sends them to me, and I save them like precious gold. We have started listening to them when we have dinner. It is heart-filling to listen to these stories that I grew up hearing and to share them with Sarah, Amy, and Carl.
We got the cassette player because I wanted to experiment with Sarah listening to relaxing music at bedtime to see if it would help her settle more easily. Some nights it seemed like the magic ingredient and she fell asleep more quickly than usual and other times it seemed to interfere with her ability to fall asleep. I wanted to use a tape player because I used to listen to tapes when I was Sarah’s age, and I didn’t want her to have a phone or other device in her room, but somehow I didn’t foresee how much Sarah would love opening and closing cassette cases and taking them out of their larger holder so she could turn them around and put them in again. How I didn’t foresee this is a mystery given that I used to spend hours joining her in opening and closing containers with lids! It is the most perfectly Sarah-ish activity, next to sneakily sending schedules to a printer!
I felt extremely tired on Thursday and Friday. I took naps and still felt tired. This could be because of some nights when I think Sarah only got four or five hours of sleep, and my sleep is tied to hers. When she can’t sleep or when she wakes, she is quite vocal about it. I’m starting to feel like my normal energy is returning now after two nights of sleeping for eight hours or more. Sarah has been at a weekend retreat for two nights, so I don’t know how well she slept, but I am grateful for my own slumber. My cat even cooperated and didn’t meow at me at 4am as she sometimes does.
Yesterday Carl was away for a rowing race, and Sarah was still at her retreat, so Amy and I had the day together. We met some Higgy Friends at a Panera, and the kids made bracelets and shared about their bracing experiences, while the parents sat at a different table and talked. When we got home, Amy and I sat side by side on the sofa to read. We each had some academic reading to do and struggled to stay awake through it. After that, Amy worked on some art while I made dinner, and then we watched the Great British Baking show. We love it, and yet we also get so nervous on behalf of the contestants that I wonder why we love it. It was wonderful having so much time together.
When I finished my academic reading and still had some open time, I finished Of Mice and Men, which I started a few days earlier. I love Steinbeck and I can appreciate this book, but I don’t think I can ever read it again. I felt entirely gutted. It spoke to me in a way it wouldn’t have had I read it before having Sarah, and I felt like I was on the edge of sobbing for the duration of my reading. It is simply heart-wrenching, and yet I couldn’t not finish it. I also recently read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and that was heart-opening and inspiring in the best way. She is speaking in Pittsburgh tomorrow and Carl and I are going. I am so excited I am beside myself.
In book news, I was delighted and honored to learn that Watching Sarah Rise made it to the long list for the Chanticleer Journey and Chanticleer Hearten awards. Now I wait to see if I make it to the short list. If I do, there will be more waiting for semi-finals and more waiting for finals. Even if I don’t make it any farther than the long list, it is still an honor.
If you happen to be in Philadelphia or the surrounding area on Tuesday September 30th, I will be doing a book talk and signing at the Swarthmore College bookstore at 4pm. I would love to see you! If you are in Pittsburgh on Thursday October 9th at 7pm, I will be at Riverstone books in Squirrel Hill for a local author panel. I would love to see you there too!
Wishing you sneaky delight.
Leave a Reply