It's 1:16AM and I'm still awake, although I think I am going to have to throw in the towel at 2AM. I am simply too tired and the beer did not help my cause (but damn, did it taste good.) Truth be told, it's the nap just before work that's the most essential part of the equation.
Heidi went to pick Anna up at the rendezvous point in Oskaloosa today one day ahead of schedule. This has been a strange trip to Camp Grandma for her. It started out with her being on the verge of tears the entire morning before she was to leave. It really threw us for a loop because usually she is all fired up to go to Heidi's mom's house and doesn't really look back. But this time, something was different. We're still trying to figure out what exactly it was (we have our theories) but truly, the world may never know. She called last night saying that she wanted to come home and since it was 10PM, there really wasn't any chance of that happening last night, but Heidi talked to her again this morning and she still wanted to come home today. So she's home.
There are times that you see glimpses of yourself in your kids, and this has been one of those times for me. I remember getting very homesick when I went away to places. I never went to summer camp or anything like that, so I didn't have that experience to toughen me up. I remember leaving for college and being VERY homesick. And that's a little bit fucked up because most people in that situation were probably ELATED to be out from under their parents' constant scrutiny. Part of the problem was that I went to school just far enough away from my hometown to make it "real" but also just close enough that going back for the weekends was a feasible alternative to staying. Not that I was one of those people that lived Monday through Friday in the dorms and then went back home every weekend - far from it. But I did head back about once a month. It wasn't till I transferred to the University of Iowa that I left in August and came back for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, left again in January, came back for spring break, and then not till the end of the year. Really, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I became a lot more self-sufficient in that time frame than I had in the previous two years of college prior to my move to Iowa City.
Anna will have to toughen up a bit. She won't have a choice when it gets to be the end of July and Heidi goes to L.A. for 10 days, during which time I have exactly 2 days off. But I guess it's my job as a parent to encourage her and to tell her that she can do it. I will endeavor to be up to the challenge.
I am glad that she's home though. Even though Heidi and I had fun being on our own with no child for a day or two, there is a big void in the house when she's not here.
OK, I think I probably need to sleep.
1 comment:
I know what you mean about Anna. My kids get very homesick sometimes. They get all gung-ho and then cut and run a day or so before the scheduled return day. Which is fine. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, I usually roll with it. No point in making them stay somewhere when they'd rather be with Olga and I. I guess I should feel special about it. :) Anyways, good luck with the overnight shift. Suckage that you have to do it, but I know you'll make it thru the wilderness.
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