![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/sto1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
First, close the door as carefully as possible.\u00a0 Now, let\u2019s survey the aftermath.<\/p>\n
There is a dinosaur sticker clinging to the hardwood floor near the entry hallway, torn, folded in half, but sticking nonetheless.\u00a0 A single, royal purple crayon perches alone and forlorn, probably hiding for its life, between a couple of couch cushions.\u00a0 Light switches I forgot existed are thrust into the on position, illuminating normally unused corners of the house.\u00a0 One half of my pajamas (I can’t tell which half, but who cares?) is strewn across a kitchen chair, far across the house from where pajamas are routinely exchanged for street clothes on the average day.\u00a0 Glassy-eyed, wary, and immobile from exhaustion, the dog is prostrate on the carpet.\u00a0 She declines to shift as I step over her.<\/p>\n
The children have been here.\u00a0 Overnight.\u00a0 Both of them, with just the dog and me.![\"madeline-exhausted\"](\"https:\/\/gmachroniclesdotcom.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/01\/madeline-exhausted.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It was a first, so let me quickly confirm that everyone survived intact.\u00a0 Or maybe just the children did.\u00a0 I think I might have.\u00a0 Right now, the dog is a close call.\u00a0 We\u2019re not as young as we were, the dog and I.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s be clear about a few other things, in fairness and up front. \u00a0First, I asked for this opportunity.\u00a0 Are you ready for the kids to stay overnight, both of them? I asked my daughter chirpily.\u00a0 \u201cI am if you are,\u201d she responded, so quickly I should perhaps have taken note.\u00a0 (About halfway through the previous evening, a good friend texted, \u2018How\u2019s it going over there?\u2019\u00a0 To which I responded: There is a reason this task was originally divined as the responsibility of two people. But I am one, plus dog, and so we do what we can.)<\/p>\n
Second, Buddy and Sis are relatively well-behaved kids, as kids their age (five and three) go.\u00a0 Their parents diligently coach good behavior, require them to clean up after themselves, to employ good manners, all of it.\u00a0 They\u2019re just active, REALLY active, and inquisitive, and quick\u2026and exhausting.\u00a0 My LORD, they are exhausting.<\/p>\n
While surveying the aftermath, providing asylum to the desperate purple crayon and otherwise tidying up, I begin pondering the sleepover experience from the children\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 And I quickly fear their view will not equate to the stuff of Hallmark cards and treasured future family lore.\u00a0 Did they have a good time?\u00a0 Or was every word I uttered a reprimand, a correction?\u00a0 We ate a good dinner, we read books, watched a cartoon, they colored, we sang.\u00a0 Is that what they\u2019ll talk about? \u00a0Tomorrow, and 30 years from now, when I may be only a memory in their hearts?<\/p>\n
Or will this litany, from me, come to mind instead:\u00a0 No, back away from the wall with that crayon.\u00a0 No, don\u2019t take the top off that pottery bowl, there\u2019s nothing in there for you.\u00a0 PLEASE don\u2019t give the dog any more pot roast. She’ll vomit.\u00a0 Wipe your hands before you leave the table, they\u2019re covered in sauce.\u00a0 No, you can\u2019t have another cookie.\u00a0 No, you can\u2019t watch the show a third time, you have to go to bed.\u00a0 Stop screaming; you\u2019ll frighten the neighbors.\u00a0 Stop pushing all those buttons; better yet, hand over the TV remote, RIGHT NOW.\u00a0 I\u2019m not kidding!\u00a0 Did you spill that, again?\u00a0 I just wiped it up!<\/p>\n
I once heard a wise and impressive grandmother, a Harvard-educated college professor, state boldly that her only job is to keep her grandson safe.\u00a0 If safety is assured, whatever else he wants, in her house, he gets.\u00a0 Such a beguiling idea, that, with its alluring quantities of flexibility and openness.\u00a0 And good luck to her, and the child.\u00a0 It’s not how this G-ma is wired.\u00a0 One longs to provide that Hallmark card experience, the gentle touch, the calm and kind word, the fresh cookie, the twinkle in the eye.\u00a0 But how to balance that with the powerful instinct to protect property and animals, even one\u2019s own sanity, at least, a little bit?<\/p>\n
To explore my darkest lingering fears, I ring up their mother a day or so later.\u00a0 Did they have a good time, I inquire, trying not to sound desperate.\u00a0 \u201cOf course, they did,\u201d she assures me, \u201cthey loved it.\u201d\u00a0 Really?\u00a0\u00a0 I repost.\u00a0 I feel like I hardly said a kind word\u2026had to get after them time and again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, I promise,\u201d comes the matter-of-fact answer.\u00a0 \u201cI doubt they thought too much about any of that.\u00a0 They\u2019re used to it, you know.\u201d\u00a0 Aha.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s that, of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know how lucky you are?\u201d\u00a0 This is a question I hear often from friends and family, always in reference to the magical concept of two beautiful, intelligent, healthy grandchildren, living just 20 minutes away.\u00a0 How they wish their kids lived closer, they say.\u00a0 Or:\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait until I have grandchildren.\u00a0 Or:\u00a0 I bet you love every minute you spend with them, don\u2019t you?\u00a0 You lucky dog.<\/p>\n
In the core of my heart, I know this:\u00a0 Of course, I am lucky.\u00a0 These children, with their bizarre questions and oddly precocious wit and pale blue eyes and boisterous attitudes and non-stop, simultaneous talking are gifts from almighty, gifts of a lifetime, ones I never earned.\u00a0 Of course, I know that. \u00a0I want more than anything to be a source of love and happy times, new experiences for them.\u00a0 Good memories.\u00a0 It\u2019s not always clear how to do that, not as obvious as the fairy tales would have us think.\u00a0 They were not delivered with a handbook.<\/p>\n
And treasure every moment with them? \u00a0EVERY moment?\u00a0 I\u2019ll come up with a snappy answer for that one.\u00a0 If I ever get up off this couch again.<\/p>\n
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First, close the door as carefully as possible.\u00a0 Now, let\u2019s survey the aftermath. There is a dinosaur sticker clinging to the hardwood floor near the entry hallway, torn, folded in half, but sticking nonetheless.\u00a0 A single, royal purple crayon perches alone and forlorn, probably hiding for its life, between a couple of couch cushions.\u00a0 Light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grandkids","category-humor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}