The Twinsburgers Head Home

On Thursday Aunt M, La and I drove back to Twinsburg for the weekend so that La could visit with her Dad. The drive there was very pleasant, complete with sunshine, a HUGE rainbow that stretched over I-80, some happy little deer in a meadow, and a happy little rain shower. La was in pristine form, riding along pleasantly, singing to herself for much of the way.

Friday morning, La's dad (in for a visit from Scottsdale, AZ) came in his rental minivan to whisk her off to Cedar Point. The minivan suited him better than I expected. Go dad!

La ended up having an absolute blast!

And I had a whole night kid-free. I got to spend it with my girls (Mom, Molly, Meagan and Mandy). We went to Vito's in Aurora, which is our favorite Italian spot, just outside the back entrance to my old neighborhood. My mom brought her new friend, Julia From Russia (JFR), whom Aunt M and I had never met. Before we met her we were a teensy-weensy bit jealous of she and our mother's relationship. JFR is right between M and I in age, so we thought that our mom buddying up with someone our age meant she was replacing us. Having finally met Julia, M and I are convinced that she remains a total threat to our daughterly statuses, but we just don't care anymore.

BECAUSE THAT CHICK ROCKS.

Her accent is just TOO CUTE. And she's just TOO CUTE. And if she became a pseudo-daughter to my mom, that would make her our pseudo-sis, and that would be great fun.

The six of us laughed a lot that night. It was nice.

The next day, I got La back in the afternoon, and we went for a 4-mile hike around Twinsburg with my buddy Des and her two kiddos. We were all, "Man, this ain't no thang! We should do this every day!" when we arrived at the park 2 miles from Des's house. We neglected to take in the fact that it was ALL DOWNHILL THE WHOLE TIME on the way to the park. Thus, the way back (can you see where I'm going with this?) was ALL UPHILL THE WHOLE TIME. 

It was brutal. Especially for Des who had to push TWO kids up the gigantic hill.

On Sunday, as we were having lunch at our favorite Mexican joint, La noticed a little girl with a painted face. We asked where she had it done, and it turned out to be nearly next door to the restaurant. So, we headed down the stripmall to the Paul Mitchell School. It ended up being my friend from high school, Libby, who was painting faces for a fundraiser benefitting the foundation of the fallen Twinsburg Police Officer.

She did a beautiful job painting a side-view of a butterfly on La's face. So artistic!

And then we were off to Chicago!

But not with lovely songs and rainbows of yore. The only word that comes to mind while reminiscing about the trip home is: problematic. I don't know exactly what happened to La's demeanor in the car, but let's just say IT WENT SOUTH. QUICKLY. One minute she was riding along contentedly, the next, WAILING LIKE A BANSHEE. No joke. And that next minute was the beginning of one-and-a-half hours of straight sobbing from the back seat. 

In all my years of parenting (four), I have learned to tune certain behaviors out. Aunt M, riding silently and patiently along, clutching the steering wheel with all the fervor of a barnacle stuck tight to a buoy, has not developed this ability to turn one's ears off. Poor Aunt M. She's already explained to me (in a nice way) that she needs a 4-day break from us, and I totally understand where she's coming from. Heck, I even need a 4-day break from us. We're obnoxious! 

So, La let up a bit on the wailing while we stopped to use the restroom. Her eyes were red, her cheeks poofy ... and to make matters worse, the butterfly had smooshed into one gigantic blackish-blue mark on her face, thereby making me a certified child abuser in the eyes of all Indiana rest-stop goers. Another thing I've learned in my many, many years of child rearing is that I don't give a rat's behind what anyone thinks of my parenting skillz.

So, by the GRACE OF GOD, we got home in one piece. And without being reported to DCFS. And after Aunt M drove past my house and shoved both of us out of the moving vehicle (tuck and roll La! TUCK AND ROLL!), she put the pedal to the metal and screeched out of my neighborhood to get home and soothe her fried nerves with nature's medicine ... a bottle of Jack Daniels.

(Just kidding. Total joke! M definitely came to a complete halt and waited patiently for the two of us to unload our sorry butts from the car before proceeding cautiously out of my neighborhood ... to get home and ease her nerves with a nice big bottle of Jack)