Imagine

Despite my jokes of last night it wasn't in the cards for a truly peaceful evening. Parenthood offers up some interesting moments.

Poor Tori has hurt her shoulder somehow.  I took her to the Dr. and she has yet another appointment with an orthopedic Dr. later this week. We only know that the Dr. doesn't think she's cracked or broken anything but that something is definitely up and it's making her pretty uncomfortable.  Especially at night when she tries to lay down. 

She's been having a pretty rough go of it since last Thursday and tonight wasn't any better.  Ibuprofen,  heat, cold,  pillows,  elevation, laying flat, nothing seems to help and it's made her understandably grumpy and pretty vocal about it.  She gets stressed and it makes it even harder for her to relax and sleep.  Gabs feeds off of it and she is hard to get settled too.

Dennis took on calming Tori, he has always been her go to person, Daddy's girl all the way and he's a good Daddy.   I took on calming Gabby, who likewise has always been a Mommas girl.  Somewhere on the way Tori ended up taking over my blankets and pillow and my side of the bed. She finally fell asleep with Dennis knocked out beside her. Gabby also succumbed to sleep and frankly I'm wasn't about to try and do any shifting for fear of unsettling the calm they've all found.

That said I had the choice of two couches or Tori's twin bed. I went with a couch.

I suppose the whole night should have left me upset and stressed but oddly it didn't. Just tired.  Mostly because of the fact that as I lay down beside Gabby for awhile to get her to sleep everything seemed so peaceful as I listened to her chatter and Dennis talking Tori into calming down.
Gabby ' s conversation particularly had me forgetting about the stress of the night. 

"Momma,  how come we have to go to school and everywhere every day? ," she asked first.  "How long do we have to keep going everywhere?  Did it take you long to get through school?  Does everyone have to go to college?  Momma,  why can't we just stay home?," so many questions.  "Everyone needs to learn so they can become better and smarter people, " I answered,  "it makes the world a better place if everyone gets to learn about new things and can understand more about the world we live in. "

That wasn't the answer she wanted though.  "I know it's good to learn but wouldn't it be nice if we could stay home for a year?  All of us, everywhere,  maybe just the water people and electric people could make that stuff work from home on their computers.  That would be so nice if we all got to stay home," she said wistfully.

I did my best to explain that we all have to work or the world won't work.  "What would happen if the police and firemen didn't work?," I asked, "or what about doctors and nurses, people to run stores and farmers for food. " "Yeah, " she said,  "but it would still be nice. "

"What would it be like if everything was white and blank and we were just all here but we didn't really see or hear us, we'd just be here. Can you imagine that? And how did God make us all?  Did he have extra organs and he gave us some," she continued.

I did my best to answer,  to tell her I wasn't certain of all the answers and that I could imagine all that.  I could imagine but it was so funny to think that all of this was in her eight year old mind before bed.

"Momma do you have to go to college?  Did you always stay away from home?  Did you miss Nanna and Poppy?," on she went. I told her that not everyone goes,  some people do different things,  we talked about whether or not you need a degree to work at Arby's or Norbys and that it depends on your position and that managers sometimes do. "Managers do a lot don't they? ," she asked solemnly, "I don't think I want to do that. I don't think I want to be an adult.  How long do I have till I can't be little anymore?," she said so sadly and took my hand. "Oh a long while off, at least ten years till you're 18, that's when they say you're an adult.  I don't think you need to worry about it just yet.  You can stay here as long as you want," I couldn't help but smile at her deep worries and only hope I told her what she needed to know and hear.  She finally fell off to sleep after holding my hand for another fifteen minutes, changing blankets and making me promise to check on her and Tori before bed.

As I snuck out of the room and peeked in on Tori and Dennis her words kept going through my head.  "Wouldn't it be nice if we could all stay home for a year?" What does it mean that an eight year old recognizes that the world turns at a pretty fast pace and maybe we could all use a time for it to slow down. I don't know really,  but I can imagine.  Can you?