Journal of a Sabbatical

but daddy said we didn't have to pack

July 17, 1998

Previous Entry Journal Index Today's Narragansett Vocabulary Word: Netop - friend	x	x	x	For some reason, an unexpected couple of hours off this morning cheered me up a lot. Tom noticed it when I was having my coffee this morning. He said: "You look a lot better than you did on Wednesday." It's true. I feel better. The humidity is still the same. I didn't check the paper for the mold count. I think it was partly simply having had a good night's sleep and having actually eaten breakfast (a tahini veggie sandwich from Raspberries Eatery in the Andover Spa .Oh, by the way the word spa is not in my glossary so I should point out that in these parts "spa" means a convenience store not a posh retreat with tiny elegant meals and overpriced facials and not a bathtub either. Fortified with a good sandwich and two grande lattes I felt ready to take on the world, or at least the kids. Andrea was at swimming lessons in the morning and Lizzy was at camp all day. I got there at 2:00 PM and waited for awhile until Stephanie's mom dropped off Andrea and Stephanie for the afternoon. We're still in the throes of the humidity wave (apparently you can't call it a heat wave unless the temperature is above 100 degrees for at least 3 days ), so I was dreading getting an earful about the air conditioning in my car not being as "freezed" as in Kevin's van. So I was just as happy to have Stephanie's mom pick them up and drop them off. I don't mind having an extra kid, especially one as well-mannered as Stephanie. Andrea and Stephanie played piano, played with stuffed animals, and watched tv without too much involvement on my part. I had to tear them away from "AAAHH!!!, Real Monsters" to go pick up Lizzy at art camp so we were a few minutes late. All three of us piled into the art building to help carry all Lizzy's objets d'art. I said to one of the teachers:"It takes a village to pick up Lizzy's art." On the way home Lizzy demanded to be driven directly to Casey's house so she could swim in the pool. Andrea: "But don't we have to pack for North Conway?" AJ: "Yeah, I would think you do," says I, "Daddy wants to leave right after supper." Lizzy: "Daddy said we didn't have to pack." AJ:"Aren't you taking anything for the weekend? Like your pillow, your stuffed animals, pajamas?" Lizzy: "Daddy said we didn't have to pack." The conversation went on pretty much like that, with Lizzy demanding to go immediately to Casey's and me suggesting it might be a good idea to go home and call first. Even Stephanie chimed in with, shouldn't you call first..They demand to use my car phone, which doesn't work in Groton (gotta bug Cellular One about that). Lizzy says she's going whether I drive her or not. So I drive her there. Andrea wants to join her and leave Stephanie with me. Andrea: "Why do I have to stay with Stephanie until her Mom picks her up?" AJ: "Umm, you invited her." Andrea: "I want to go swimming. Stephanie can stay with you." AJ: "You don't invite a friend over and then leave her with your old-maid aunt. It just isn't done!" Andrea: "Alright, but as soon as Stephanie is gone you're driving me to Casey's." And so it went until I finally dropped Andrea off at Casey's and sat in Kevin's kitchen trying to figure out how to explain why I let not one but both of his kids impose on the neighbors without so much as a phone call...and why they're not packed... and how I came to be sitting there alone reading Family PC magazine... His response: "The inmates are running the asylum." Couldn't have put it better myself.
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