Usually Sundays are spent at home, either doing chores or just hanging out. Carolyn and Emily are usually playing here and there, indoors or outdoors, depending on whether neighborhood kids are around or not. Grace and Meghan are usually indoors, but on a rare occasion they'll head off to the pool and swim for a while.
Yesterday was quite different.
Bob slowly made his way to the van, and I watched him drive off. He was making his rounds; visiting friends and family for most of the day. I had planned to try to catch up on chores, as I am now Chief-Dish-and-Bottle-Washer, along with Full-Time Worker-Outside-of-the-Home, so my days are very busy and tiring.
At one point in the morning, Emily told me that she and Carolyn were invited to go to the beach for the day. I called our neighbor, and, in fact, they were invited to go to Venice Beach. I packed them a little bag of beach stuff and within the hour they were on their way. They wouldn't be home until after dinner. A few minutes later, Grace asked if she could go to the movies with her friends. That left just Meghan and me. What shall we do? Meghan suggested that we go to the movies, too. I was trying to think of something that we could do that cost next-to-nothing, as Bob and I had spent too much money the day before on birthday presents and clothes. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head! "Meghan! I know! Let's go to Busch Gardens!" I had to get my pass, anyway, so why not? We all had gotten year Fun Passes from Bob's mom and sister for Christmas, and I hadn't turned in the computer printout to get my pass yet.
I dropped Grace off at one friend's house so she could go to the movies, then Meghan and I took off to B.G.. We arrived at 1:00 pm, which is late for us, but luckily the park wasn't too crowded. We went on the Montu first (my FAVORITE roller coaster!), and then took a leisurely walk through the park, stopping to see things that we hadn't checked out before. In Timbuktu we decided to see the 4-D movie, "Pirates", because it was a new 20 minute movie and we arrived right before the next showing. We laughed, screamed, held hands, and had a great time! We then shared a Chicken Caesar Salad at The Desert Grill, and then headed for the Kumba in the Congo for our last ride. On the way there, Meghan said, "Do you know that
Kumba means
Roar in Swahili?"
I told her that I didn't, and we both decided that maybe that's why the roller coaster is so loud and sounds like a lion.
After having a great ride on the Kumba, we headed around the other side of the park, checked out the White Tigers,
passed by the Sheikra (the coaster with the 90 degree drop) while watching the passengers scream, and we were closing in on the Land of the Dragons, where all the little kids play, when we saw a little girl, around one year old, crying. Her Mom was brushing the dirt off her knee and I assumed that the girl had fallen. I said, "Awww, the poor baby is crying!" Meghan said, "You're used to that, aren't ya, Mom? You've had a LOT of babies crying! Do you miss it?" I had to think about that for a moment. "Ahhh, yes and no," I answered, thoughtfully. "It's nice to have a break from it once in a while, but I miss the cuddly-cuteness. It's kind of bittersweet." To that, Meghan added, "Like Dark Chocolate!" We laughed, held hands, and kept walking.
As we were getting closer to the front entrance, I was happy that I got to share this time with Meghan, and sad that the other girls were not with us, and, I was coming to the realization that this may be the beginning of a new trend in our family life. The girls are getting older and will most likely do more things outside of the house. We will probably do more things separately from one another, with more frequency, as time goes on; and Bob may not have the strength to do many things with us. I suddenly felt a twinge in my heart, a sense of loss and foreboding -- yes, Meghan, it IS bittersweet -- to feel ready for the babies to grow up, but to still want to cling to them with all the strength I can muster, just for one last moment of cuddly-babyness.
