I have kind of a summer
tradition. Every year, my son Beau and
his wife, Carrie, who live in another state, attend a church-related marriage
retreat. Since 2007, when it was just
little Becca, I have tried to work it out to be available to babysit in their
home while they are gone. I’ve missed a
couple of times, but for the most part, Grandma Candy has had the privilege of watching
Becca, and now also Moriah during this event.
It’s always a great time – especially when I can stay a few extra days
to enjoy time with Beau and Carrie as well. They are so great about trying to think of things I might enjoy doing while there, and it's just nice to be able to sit and talk to them, listen to Beau play his guitar, see Carrie's latest craft projects, et cetera.
This year, having a week’s
vacation from work, I made the five hour drive after first stocking my car with
enough snacks to feed an army and enough CD’s to launch my own radio station. Besides the modern Christian genre that I
usually listen to, I brought some old rock tunes – U2, of course; Moody Blues;
Train; Tracy Chapman and the like. The
ride was enjoyable, and when I pulled up in front of their house late that
afternoon, there was a little face at the front window, watching for me. A moment later, I was inside exchanging hugs
with Becca, Moriah and Carrie. Beau was
still at the church, where he works as an associate pastor. Almost immediately, one of the girls delightedly
squealed, “You have puppy dogs on your toes!”
She was referring to my “memorial pawprints” that I had gotten painted
on my toenails in honour of my dog Mavourneen.
We had homemade pizza for
dinner the first evening – I must say that Carrie is an excellent cook. I already knew that, of course, and I admit,
eating her cooking is one of the things I always look forward to when I visit (and
their guest shower, which has a much stronger spray than ours does… aahhh, bliss…). After we ate, we went to a nearby parking lot so that I could see the girls ride their bikes. Becca had just recently begun riding without training wheels, and Moriah was just learning to ride one with training wheels! We watched the Olympics that night, when the
US women claimed the gold medal in gymnastics.
I hadn’t watched any of the events up to that time, and found it
exciting. Along with much of the rest of
America, I fell in love with Gabby Douglas – aka the Flying Squirrel.
The next day, Carrie, the
girls and I went to the pool. I hadn’t
been swimming at all this year, so that was a nice treat. The pool in their town is incredible – big and
L-shaped. Besides diving boards, there
was also a vortex slide, which the girls enjoyed. Becca slid down over and over on her own, but
Moriah was a little more cautious.
Carrie had to catch her every time; even so, she made a number of trips
on it! We also spent time lounging in
the baby pool, which was about a foot deep.
Although we used sunscreen, Carrie and Becca ended up getting a sunburned
scalp where their hair was parted. Mine
was pulled straight back, so I didn’t have that problem, but I didn’t quite get
my lotion all the way to my hairline, leaving me with a little strip of
sunburn. Still a fun day, though, and I managed to come home from vacation with some tan lines! That night (after delicious homemade
tenderloins, which is one of Roger’s favourite foods, so of course I had to
text him and tell him how good they were…) was our annual Scrabble game, which
Beau won. He was also the scorekeeper…
hmmm…
On Thursday, we went to
one of my favourite places – Innkeeper’s Coffee House. Beau even got to go with us, as he needed to
do some errands for the church in preparation for the marriage retreat. Before hitting the establishment for coffee
and dessert, we went antique store shopping.
Carrie got a good buy on some old brooches, and we enjoyed just looking
around. Beau had suggested that, since
he and Carrie both had errands to run at such mundane places as Staples, I
might enjoy just remaining at the coffee shop relaxing and reading my book
while they finished up. I have to admit,
it was nice! The only disappointment of
the day was not being able to find a collector spoon anywhere I looked. Michelle had given me a spoon rack a while
back, and I was looking forward to adding to my collection of states. Maybe next time!
Friday afternoon was when
Beau and Carrie left for their retreat.
There happened to be a HUGE car show in town that night, so after a
supper of hot dogs, the girls and I walked up there. It was a lot of fun, and we even got to see
some NASCAR cars. We didn’t cover the
entire area, as it was just too
hot. We ran into some local cheerleaders
who urged us to attend their facepainting booth, whose proceeds would help send
them to camp. I told the girls that if
we happened to come across the booth, they could do it, but we never did see
it. Before going home, we found a shady
spot to sit and eat funnel cakes. Well,
Becca and I did – Moriah, who is allergic to milk and eggs, ate trail mix that
Carrie had previously prepared for her.
This little girl, who is only three, is so amazing. She knows exactly what she can and can’t eat,
and never complains about not being able to have something.
After getting back to the
house, we watched one of my favourite videos – “Hotel for Dogs”, and had
popcorn. Moriah looked at me at one
point and said, “This is making me sad!”
I assured her that the movie would end happily, and didn’t tell her that
I had, in fact, cried at that very part the first time I watched it. After the movie, we played Barbies until it
was time for the girls to go to bed. We
played Barbies again the next day. Becca
had her art class on Saturday morning, so we walked her to the building, which
was just a few blocks away. Upon
returning home, Moriah asked me if she could paint her fingernails with her
Hello Kitty sparkly nail polish. I told her
yes, but got a little worried when, a total of three times during the process,
she looked up and me and said, “Thank you for letting me do this!” I hoped I didn’t end up getting us both in
trouble! Her sparkly polish apparently
came with sparkly lotion and sparkly lip gloss, so she applied those products
as well. After her makeover, blowing bubbles in the back
yard and looking for items in a book similar to “Where’s Waldo?”, except that
the hidden character’s name was Lisa, we went to pick up Becca. She had made clay animals, and a bendable
wire sculpture during her class. This
child has so much talent that she inherited from her mother. In the guest bedroom where I slept was a
painting that Becca did of a fruit bowl.
Quite good for a seven year old.
I love this one-on-one
time of getting to know my granddaughters better. I found out that Becca prefers to be called Rebecca. However, when I told her I would try to
remember to call her that, her response was, “No, you don’t have to – there are
some people that I don’t mind calling
me Becca, and you’re one of them!”
She told me how she learned that a person can pray to themselves without
closing their eyes, and demonstrated it to me.
The countless little facts and conversations with both of them were
priceless. I hope that these times will
be memories that the girls treasure as well.
After Beau and Carrie got
home Saturday evening, we watched UFC fighting – something I had never
done. I was surprised that I actually
enjoyed it. That may have also been the
day that I played Angry Birds for the first time, introduced to the game by
Carrie, on her Kindle (Now I play it on Facebook!).
Sunday, of course, was
church. Roger and I – indeed all of our
family who has ever visited Beau and Carrie – always look forward to the
service there. A person attending walks
into a casual, welcoming atmosphere, complete with a coffee house (regular and
specialty coffees and often baked goods – all free). The main pastor usually preaches in
jeans. It is a Bible-believing church
that is serious about serving the Lord and reaching the world for Jesus. In fact, this Sunday, a young couple from the
church gave their testimony regarding their plans to leave soon for Papua, New
Guinea for a four year stint as Bible translators.
Later that evening, we got
take-out pizza and went to the lake.
After dining at a picnic table, we went fishing, which I hadn’t done in
years. Carrie was the only one who
caught anything – a bluegill, which was thrown back. The girls had fun being the "worm suppliers" and running around.
All too soon, Monday
arrived; the day I was to return home.
The time always goes by so quickly! Beau went in to work late that day, and Carrie made us pancakes, eggs and sausage
for breakfast. I left late morning, and
took a different route home. I waited about
100 miles to get gas, where I knew/hoped it would be cheaper (It was!), and
remembered that once before, Carrie had told me where a Starbucks was located
in that town. I couldn’t remember
exactly where she said it was, and didn’t see it, so just bought a cappuccino at the
gas station. What did I see as I was
headed back toward the highway but the elusive coffee house? I couldn’t believe
I had missed it!
I made one more stop after
I crossed back into Missouri – I had done some online research and found the
location of a souvenir shop that would not be much of a detour from the route I
was driving. I decided to stop there and
try one last time for a spoon. I found
the shop just fine, but it was closed!
I made it home before
Roger had to leave for work, and we were happy to see each other. My dogs were happy as well! I always feel so bad when I leave my furry
babies. I missed Roger too,
of course, but at least he knew what was going
on, and I could talk to him on the phone or text him. I do talk to my dogs any time I leave and
tell them where I am going and when I will be back, an!d I think they understand
to a degree, but I worry that they feel abandoned. I have been told that they usually don’t eat
or drink the first day or two that I’m gone.
But I do so cherish time
with family. I always have, but even
more so since losing my son. I wish I
could spend more time with all my kids and grandkids. If I ever have an extra week off work, what I would love to
do would be to go see granddaughter Tiphanie, then head up to Ohio to spend
time with Cindy, Alex, Tyler, Valarie and Jake, and then go to Beau and
Carrie’s. I did make a little jaunt to
attend great granddaughter Bailey’s birthday party the Saturday after coming
home, and Cindy and Valarie were also there, so it was nice getting to see
them.
I don’t even get to spend
enough time with the kids I live near… Elisabeth came up with an idea the other
day. One of these days, when we’re both
free on like a Friday night and Saturday morning, we’re going to have a slumber
party! I can spend the night at her
house and we are going to do fun things and just spend time together.
Did I mention I love my
family?
