Kids Rule

December 22, 2012

Coca-Cola Company did a hideously fantastic job marketing in the developing country of Brasil. Soft drinks served at lunch and popular sweating red-banded plastic jugs stand tall in the middle of the table off and on during the day (distinctive fire engine red tops cracked at midnight as we divided massive chocolate bars between us) impressive advertising isn’t it?

As I write this, Joe (at 10:50 in the morning nonetheless) reaches into the recesses of the frig and pulls out..a familiar transparent bottle with a red and white lettered label!

Children surely rule the roost in the household. Theo, at nine, decides how (in)consistent each parent can be at mealtime. Chocolate milk with several teaspoons of organic sugar added or coke to escort a snack or meal, strips of snappish lettuce mixed with white clumped rice to hide the fact that there may be a vegetable on the plate, candy of any sort opened before or during the meal and pantry raids are not out of the question whenever the mood hits. Grandma makes up her own rules as well. As far as she and the kids are concerned the “restaurant” is always OPEN! The kitchen is a family zone and voraciously savored. Dishes pile up until someone gets motivated to wash and let them drip dry (of the four places I have stayed, only Cris had a dishwasher.)

Naps are also an encouraged and relished event. Children of an under-waist-high age and adults of no particular decade enjoy a bit of REM sleep. I am about to sit on one of the lumpy beds to read the last chapter of The Novel by James Michener and see if I can dose off for a bit. Many, too many nights of inconsistent mosquito-ridden evenings and I feel deprived, perhaps in empathy of Taelor’s mono symptoms.

I am finding myself grieving my daughter’s absence this holiday. We have never been apart this length of time, in all of her 19 ¾ years. When she confronted with great emotional or physical issues I undergo despair as well. Well aware that she is a capable and strong woman doesn’t take away from the fact that my princess is challenged. I want to be there to comfort her and bring her a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies loaded with walnuts and love.