Author name: Sandra Tayler

Gleek would dearly love to have a pet. Her desires are hampered on two points. First, Howard and I require children to express their commitment to pet ownership by saving up enough money to buy both the animal and all the accouterments. Gleek tends to spend her money impulsively. Second, I am allergic to the pets she would enjoy most. This really stinks for both of us, because she’ll sadly cry to me about how she would love a furry pet and I will feel guilty because it is my fault that she can’t have one. (Yes I know there are hairless, and hypoallergenic options, none of them has felt right for us so far.) An additional barrier, which Gleek does not see, is that our lives are incredibly busy right now and I’m mentally rejecting anything that would add complexity to our lives.

So we’ve been force to be creative in attempting to fill Gleeks emotional need to nurture. I try to make sure she gets a chance to play with other people’s pets. I also try to give her chances to play with young children. These things help. But they are still not the same.

Yesterday we got something of a welcome surprise. The cat we rescued over a year ago, kept for two weeks, and then returned to her owner, has shown back up at our house. Her owners went on vacation and she came to stay with us. We’ve already called the owners and left a message. When they get home I’m sure they’ll come claim her. Until then it looks like we have a part-time cat.

We also have Sea Monkeys. Two little bowls of brine shrimp are sitting on windowsills. At first it was just one and we thought that all the shrimps had died. But there was one left. It grew quite large and Gleek named it “It”. She spent significant amounts of time anthropomorphizing the little beastie, telling me what It liked and did not like. I knew that one day It would die, so we invested in the second bowl. Once again it looked like all the little shrimps died. But yesterday we discovered that half a dozen were still there. This is good because It died the same day. We’ve started a fresh batch of eggs in the bowl. And so the colonies continue.

A longer term solution would be good. There would be significant emotional benefits for Gleek if she had a pet. There would also be significant impacts on the rest of us. I have to make sure that we can all commit to supporting and meeting the emotional/physical needs of the animal before I agree to add it to the family. And so my mental circling continues, not unlike the circling of Gleek’s sea monkeys.

“How long till we get there?” Patch asked for the third time.
“I don’t know.” I sigh. Rush hour traffic made time estimation difficult, as did the unfamiliarity of the destination. I did not dare use the length of the hand drawn line on the map as an accurate measure of distance. I was sure the map would get us there, I did not know how long it would take us to arrive.

50 minutes. I’d estimated 30, so we arrived at the camp 20 minutes late. This was when I discovered that finding a campsite inside a Scout Camp was more complicated than I had anticipated. during 30 minutes of walking, in the heat, with no water, we circled the entire scout camp the long way to find where my son was staying. Good thing the woods were filled with scouts willing to share their water and give directions using their camp maps. I’ll admit to being grouchy and hungry. The scout motto is preparedness, and I had no one to blame but myself for the unpleasantness of the trip. I could have planned much better.

But there was Link. He was sunburned and grinning. He told me story after story about his experiences. He showed me the target paper where he had clustered seven rifle shots near the bulls eye. He displayed his purchase from the camp store. (A ball-shaped ice cream maker.) He announced that he’d earned 5 merit badges. He chased Gleek and Patch around, scolding them when they broke Scout Camp rules. (This did not endear him to Gleek.) He had so much to tell, and I listened.

Then we all trekked down to the Friday night presentation. I sat in the amphitheater, looking out over the lake. Wind rushed through the trees and sometimes ruffled the surface of the lake, making the boats shift against the dock. Camp songs were sung. Counselors jumped about for the amusement of scouts. Other counselors infiltrated the audience and helped flagging scouts regain enthusiasm. Gleek and Patch loved it all. They loved the snake and the deer we saw while trying to find the campsite. They loved the two story tall US flag. They stomped and sang and laughed. Gleek tried to take home pockets full of rocks, but settled for just one. Then they both saw deer cross right in front of our van on the ride home.

The visit was totally worth the minor frustrations it took to arrive. Link will be home tomorrow and I’ll get to hear the rest of the stories.

I knew when I agreed to watch my two nieces that there would be some inconvenience involved. I know that my brother’s family has been inconvenienced when I leave my kids with them. This is part of what families are for, to bear personal inconvenience to help each other out.

So Kiki entertained the toddler for an entire morning while we shifted, signed, and stamped 1200 books. Everyone was tired at the end. I’ve spent days airing out toddler entertainment skills that I’ve not used in years. In some ways having a visiting toddler is more difficult than living with one. Life in this house is not scheduled properly to meet toddler needs. If she came here long term, we’d have some serious shifting to do. But her mom returns today. I just need to keep muddling through until time to give her back.

All my kids have loved having the nieces here. Niece one blends right into my family without a hitch. There have been many back yard adventures. This evening there was even a swim adventure. Niece2 has gotten to participate in much of the fun. The older kids have been really good about including her and watching her. But she really is a quiet little person and she prefers to hang out wherever I am. She wouldn’t have a thing to do with me until her mom left, now she’s pegged me as the mom figure and will hardly let me out of her sight. Which is actually a pretty good survival strategy when you can’t provide food for yourself.

I’m glad they came. I just wish it had been in a week when I could have just hung out and played more. Instead I’ve been holding Niece2 on my lap while doing my work and handing her safe office supplies to examine in lieu of the keyboard. The fact that this tactic works at all demonstrates how much more obedient Niece2 is that my kids ever were. No doubt part of the obedience is because she still feels unsure with me, but she’s also a less head-strong person. It has been a good visit.