Forgot Something
I dropped my kids off at their mom’s last night after a “short day,” which is short in contrast to our currently-midweek two-day visits (and the former Saturday-is-Dadurday long day).
On the drive home, my daughter said, “I have a feeling like I’m forgetting something.”
“I think we have everything,” I said, aware that they had brought nothing with them on this visit and thus could not possibly be forgetting something. But it didn’t feel quite right. So I added, “And I can bring you something if you forgot it.”
“No,” she said, “it’s like, in my gut, just a feeling.”
Then I realized that I felt the same thing, and I had no idea why.
My kids had seemed exhausted for the visit, start to finish, like they had just gotten out of a 10 hour drive when I picked them up. At dinner I had asked if they had been playing hard all day (Pickup was 4:15 pm, dinner at 6, dropoff at 8).
My older son had complained immediately that he can’t get any sleep because his little brother always wakes up him up. My daughter then complained that she woke this morning to my older son yelling.
You were yelling at your brother? I asked him.
No, his sister interjected, he was yelling at mom.
Well, he protested, mom was yelling at ME.
Well that’s because, she said, and I can’t remember the reason honestly but I think it was about how he was yelling at his little brother or whatever. It didn’t really matter what she said because I suddenly remembered so vividly what it’s like waking up to people yelling that I couldn’t really stay tuned into the conversation.
I have not woken up to people screaming at each other for 2 years and 7 and a half months. I had forgotten how the entire day then goes.
“Maybe what we forgot was a big giant hug” I said from the front seat of the car and adjusted the rear view mirror so I could see if she would smile, and she did, so I jammed my hand back there and grabbed her leg and then held her hand for a while. I was acting playful but I honestly can’t believe I would forget all that.