Just after I wrote my update a week ago, our power came back on! It is always interesting how quickly I go back to taking anything for granted when it works the way it should. Friday night I mysteriously tweaked my knee as I rolled into bed. I couldn’t straighten it or put weight on it at all for hours and had to scoot places on my butt. Throughout Saturday it gradually got better and this morning it is back to my not needing to think about it and thus being able to take it for granted.
Amy and I had a wonderful shared birthday. She created perler bead representations of our family with a black cat, me, Sarah, Amy, and… a potato. We laughed about how her continual representation of Carl as a spud is akin to Charlie Brown always receiving a rock when he goes trick or treating. The image of me has my giant pink and white sneaker slippers and my brown, gray, and white hair! Meanwhile Sarah made me perler bead ornaments and Anna created a perler bead purse, complete with pictures of Tiny Chef, Donald Duck, and my giant slippers. Sometimes when I wear the slippers I forget how comically ridiculous they are.
Carl and I went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday and the restaurant added a candle to our dessert.
Sarah had a good week at school. I only received one email from her teacher and that was about a moment that made everyone laugh. Apparently they were reviewing reading they had done about skunks and each student was to share something they learned (eg. what skunks eat, that they are nocturnal, etc). For Sarah’s turn she said, “Stay away!” That is perhaps the most important thing a person needs to know about skunks.
Sarah and I have had a few moments that reminded me of our old Sarah-Rise play times, when I felt creative and engaging and we were having fun together. It started with her looking at her iPad and enlarging a picture of the taxi she rides in to get to school. She put her foot up to the wheel and said her foot was the same size. Then she said she was putting her foot in the spokes. I said her foot was a wheel. Then I started singing to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus” but swapping in “taxi” and lines such as “The Sarah in the taxi loves her Granddad, loves her Granddad, loves her Granddad…” She loved those lines. When it was bedtime, I sang, “The Sarah on the Thai mat goes sleep, sleep, sleep…” She loved that too. There’s perhaps nothing better than getting a reaction of genuine laughter and surprised delight from another person.
Several weeks ago Sarah helped me cut some of Granddad’s old t-shirts so we could mail the fronts to a place that turns them into a blanket. After much patient waiting, it finally arrived! Sarah absolutely loves it. She carried it all around the house with her and took it on the drive to her acting class. I had her leave it in the car for the actual class but she happily draped it over her lap for the ride home.
Friday morning Carl and I took the bus to the university campus where Sarah will attend two years of post-secondary education starting in the fall. It was exciting to see where she will be and to know she will be looked after so well while also learning new skills for being ever more independent. Since she is determined to take the city bus to get to and from the university, I will be taking the bus with her daily. I will work on moving away and letting her make the choice of when to pull the stop cord and when to get off, but I want to be there to make sure it all goes smoothly a billion times before I will even consider not being present.
May you notice all of the wonderful things that you are able to take for granted.
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