The Median Sib

This evening I got a phone call from my daughter, Stinkeroo, who was en route from Tennessee to Georgia to visit with her in-laws for Thanksgiving. She was traveling by herself with Sweet Stuff and Sunshine because my son-in-law had to stay later for work. He was about three hours behind them on the trip. Near Birmingham the traffic on the interstate came to a standstill. About that time Sunshine started complaining of a stomach ache. During our phone conversation, Sunshine started throwing up, and the phone call ended. They were stuck in traffic that wasn’t moving at all, the next exit was over two miles away, it was dark, and the two year-old was vomiting repeatedly in the back seat. Not a good situation. I awaited anxiously for a call telling me everything was okay.

About 20 minutes later my phone rang again. “Mom, don’t hang up the phone. I’m at an awful gas station - it’s the only one here, and I’m trying to get the kids cleaned up, and it’s dark and spooky here. I’m going to put the phone down, but don’t hang up!” Then she set the phone down. Minutes passed. It was a bad connection. I heard a few seconds of the children and my daughter talking - loudly, and then a few seconds of silence. Noise. Silence. Noise. Silence.

She was back on the phone. “Are you still there?” Yes, I’m still there. “Keep holding on. I’m setting the phone down again.” I stayed on the line, but after a few minutes the signal was lost. I called back - no answer. I was outside (to hopefully get a better signal) pacing up and down the driveway.

Stinkeroo is 30 years old. She’s mature and responsible and I have enormous confidence in her. But she was by herself with two children, one of whom was throwing up and they were in an area of Birmingham that she described as spooky. I didn’t even know WHAT area of Birmingham. If I needed to contact someone to help her, my only information was that she was at a “spooky” gas station right off I-65 near Birmingham. My heart was pounding.

Everything ended all right. She got the girls cleaned up enough to get back in the car and travel the remaining three hours to their destination. However, the experience reminded me yet again that parents never stop parenting. Stinkeroo may be a grown-up, but she’s still my little girl.

An education/teaching website that I’ve found that I really enjoy and learn from is The Education Wonks. Each week the site hosts the Carnival of Education where educators can submit education related posts for consideration. It’s a great way to keep informed about the opinions, thoughts and ideas of other educators. After reading through the entries for this week’s Carnival, I feel encouraged that others feel the way I do, I learned more about why others might feel differently, and I also feel challenged by some new thinking.

I just discovered that Beth has started a new blog, Merry Merry Christmas. I LOVE IT! Beth started off her blog discussing the issue of separation of church and state and how that is being misinterpreted for Christmas and other holidays (Note: the word holiday came from HOLY day, as Ruth just told me!)

I read an article about the consequences of NCLB in The Super’s Blog. It provides a to-the-point example of what’s happening in today’s schools.

Sweet Stuff and Sunshine spent the night with me Saturday so their mom and dad could celebrate the anniversary of their first date. Some people will celebrate anything to get a free night to go out to dinner and get grandma to babysit. I’m just kidding because that’s not true. I called and asked to babysit because I love being with the girls. It is so heart-warming and gratifying to me for them to walk in my door and come running to hug me and then to hurry their parents out the door so they can start their evening with Grandma Carol. I love it!

We did all the grandmother-granddaughter things like water painting, playing with blocks, doing puzzles, reading books, and then snuggling up with their special fleece blankets on the sofa and watching Dora the Explorer and Roly Poly Olie with a bowl of popcorn.

Bedtime came, and I gave them their baths and got them into their pajamas. I keep a jar of “Udderly Smooth Udder Cream” next to my bed to put on my hands each night before I go to sleep. The girls love that stuff! Everytime they visit, they head straight to my bedside table to get some of the cream for their hands. We have almost a ritual for after they’ve had baths at my house. After bathing, they love to very seriously smooth the udder cream on their arms and legs. The more, the better.

Once they were satisfied with the amount of lotion they had rubbed on themselves, I tucked them into their sleeping bags on the floor next to my bed. Alas, they weren’t ready for bed. Giggles, talking, requests for some milk.

So we got up, had some ice cream and read some more books. Finally they wound down and were tired. I tucked them into their sleeping bags again. Sunshine snuggled into her Wiggles sleeping bag with her favorie toy Ducky, and Sweet Stuff into her Dora the Explorer sleeping bag with her Cabbie. We said a bedtime prayer, I turned out the light, got into bed, and said goodnight. Less than a minute passed. Sunshine was standing beside my bed.

“You want to sleep up here?” I asked. She nodded. I lifted her up and put her in bed next to me. She immediately curled up beside me.

Quickly, Sweet Stuff was in the bed with us, too. There is nothing quite as sweet as the soft cuddliness of two precious little girls. Within two minutes they were both sound asleep. I just lay there and smiled at the perfect tenderness of the moment. I am pleased that they are secure enough with me that they can let their mom and dad leave and have a good time staying with me.

They remained in my bed for awhile, but after an hour or so (when I knew they were sound asleep), I picked each of them up in turn and put them back in their sleeping bags. Despite their sweetness, I knew I couldn’t sleep well with them in the bed with me.

Early the next morning they awakened. I made waffles for Sweet Stuff and pancakes for Sunshine. We got dressed and played until their mommy and daddy arrived.

It was simply a perfect grandma-granddaughter time, and I thank God for times like that.

Sunday evening before I went to bed, I opened my jar of Udderly Smooth and saw the numerous little indentations in the surface of the cream where their small fingers had dipped repeatedly into the jar the night before, and I just smiled. Life doesn’t get any better.