Last week Dwight and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. Twenty years ago we thought we’d celebrate by visiting Cancun again, comemorating our honeymoon. In reality a little jaunt through old small town America in the midwest area was more budget-friendly. That said, being surrounded by the continuous hum of young people, makes getting away anywhere a treat. If going to get the oil changed means sitting quietly in the car, alone, without any one saying, “Mom, I need my work pants washed, ironed and pressed within the next 15 minutes,” or “Mom, can you proof read my 5,000 word research paper,” or “Mom, everyone in this house is so selfish, why can’t anybody just do what I tell them to do, when I tell them to do it?!” I’ll gladly keep the vehicle standards. We were looking forward to a few days away.
It was extremely important to me to make the most of every moment of my time off. For several days before we planned to leave I was busy doing laundry, making meals, and finding places for Sam and Naomi to be while the older kids were at school. I crammed my work days into the beginning of the week, in order to “lump my days off together. By Wednesday morning, I was exhausted, and our little vacation hadn’t even begun. I ran around the house anyway, folding laundry, packing suitcases, and writing instructions. In retrospect, I could have skipped the instructions; I’m fairly certain that no one even looked at them after I left.
I had hoped to leave town around 9am, planning to arrive in the little town of DeWitt’s pie shop for coffee. At 10 minutes to 10 (yes, we were already late), the phone rang. I didn’t recongnize the number and didn’t have time to answer, so I ignored it. A few minutes later, Dwight came up from his office. That phone call had been a pie order; the customer had wanted the pies by 10am, but was willing to settle for 12 noon. As I have been praying continuously for work, I could hardly be upset about this temporary delay. While Dwight was saying he didn’t think we could make it by noon, I was jumping up and down in the background, telling him in sign language that I thought we could.
Dwight had to run out to give a lawn estimate. Sam was already gone to a friend’s house. Naomi was packed and ready to head to Aunt Mieke’s. She was a bit puzzled when I started mixing dough and pie filling. “C’mon Mom, let’s go!” “Mom’s almost ready Nome, go see if you can find your kie-kie.” “I can’t Mom.” “Sure you can, go check in Sam’s room.” Eleven rooms later, she still hadn’t found her kie-kie but the little exercise had definitely bought me time.
“C’mon Mom, Aunt Mieke’s waiting for me!” “Okay, get your coat on.” She did, along with her hat, and mittens, and boots, and backpack. She unzipped her suitcase, took out her belongings, packed them back in and rezipped the suitcase- three times. “Mom! Please! I’m getting sick and tired of this!” “Naomi, let’s have lunch. Here, say your prayers and eat this sandwich.” A few more moments bought. “Mom, can I have an ambio?” (translation-oreo) “Yes, of course, have an oreo!” Time, I need a little more time.
Three oreos later, the rim around her mouth blackened, she had used clean white shirt sleeve as a napkin, and you guessed it: she wanted more “ambios”. Dwight had come back from the lawn estimate, helped me finish the pies, and left again to deliver the order. All that was left to do was the clean-up- again. So while I cleaned, Naomi scattered the contents of her suitcase around the house, and lost the only pair of matching socks that I had been able to find.
One raspberry creme, one sweetie, one apple, and one blueberry pie were delivered on time. Naomi, with her suitcase full of skirts, tights, and her kie-kie, were dropped off on Aunt Mieke’s doorstep. The kitchen was put back to order and we left- six hours later than my goal, but hey, we did leave! We did visit the pie shop (it’s good to make these vacations “working” vacations) – on our way home! If I’ve learned only one thing in these last twenty years of marriage and child-rearing, it is the need to be able to roll with whatever comes your way!
