How will we manage when mom goes away<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we\u2019re on our own. For a couple days at least. The two of us \u2013 my daughter and me. Trying to manage by ourselves. Whew! Heaven help us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My wife had to travel out of town on Easter Sunday. Sadly, her aunt passed away last week. Her family was gathering on Long Island, New York, to lay her to rest at a cemetery near the North Shore. It happened just before Easter, and that Sunday we drove her at five in the morning to put her on a flight. We said our goodbyes at the departures dropoff and wished her luck. The two of us got back in the car and looked at each other. Kind of lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now what do we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our little family is rarely apart. You take one member out of the mix and it becomes a strange troop of disoriented monkeys. The rhythms and routines altered. The noises different. The needs different. The household emptier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Add to that, so many things we know nothing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at my daughter and said: \u201cI think we\u2019re doomed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYep,\u201d she replied. \u201cWe better get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s so much around the house I don\u2019t think about. Or know anything about. It\u2019s kind of funny, actually. Because I\u2019ve spent so many years working on my house and putting my house back together and learning the ins-and-outs of nearly every nook and cranny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, this time apart has made me realize there are a lot of mysteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For instance, did you know that there\u2019s a whole room in your house where machines wash AND dry your clothes?!? This is truly remarkable. I must commend the inventor of these so-called \u201cwash rooms.\u201d I don\u2019t know how they work, but I\u2019m quite certain I\u2019m not going in there for fear of messing something up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, I have no idea what a good temperature is for the air conditioning. I look at the thermostat and think, \u201c77 degrees? No, that doesn\u2019t seem right. Isn\u2019t it supposed to be 42?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My daughter and I have been wearing winter coats and gloves inside for two days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I keep coming across things I feel I should know, but just don\u2019t. How often we\u2019re supposed to take the kitchen garbage out to the trash cans. Weekly, right? Or how to make the pillows on the bed each morning. Why do we have so many pillows? There must be 35 or so! And how do you arrange them perfectly so they resemble the Great Pyramid of Giza!?! Maybe there\u2019s a YouTube video on this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I carefully pull back the covers on my side so as to not disturb the other. This way I\u2019m at least half way there in the morning.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was given a long list of things to do, remember and take care of while she was away. Like caring for the chickens. Who knew there were so many steps to caring for chickens. Now, mind you, these are the easiest animals on the planet. Typically, you can throw some food on the ground and they\u2019ll be like, \u201cWe\u2019ve got it from here. Get your eggs around 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not our chickens. They\u2019ve got a list like NASA running through a rocket launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stood there wide-eyed listening to my wife explain it all to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen, if there\u2019s been a hawk within a two-block radius, you have to go outside and soothe them and explain to them they\u2019re bigger than the hawk and could probably eat it. And tell them not to eat the hawk if they catch it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRiiiiight,\u201d I said. \u201cSoothe the fowl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m doing it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid you take care of the chickens?\u201d my daughter asked on the first day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, of course,\u201d I said, incredulously. \u201cI mean \u2026 like how?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, like did you give them enough food and stuff?\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh yeah,\u201d I said. \u201cI think so. But they\u2019re pretty fat and should be OK. Which reminds me: Have you seen any injured hawks around?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything was topsy-turvy. Like living in an upside-down world. There were strange things. Like how on Easter, my daughter and I decided to go catch a Flashback Cinema showing of Hitchcock\u2019s \u201cRear Window.\u201d It seemed slightly sacrilegious on one of the holiest days of the year. But that\u2019s what happens when you leave the two of us up to our own devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or how I didn\u2019t even bother to brush my hair. \u201cDo I look alright?\u201d I asked my daughter. She replied, \u201cSure,\u201d without looking at me. And I was fine with it! I haven\u2019t walked out of the house without checking my hair for more than 25 years. Who have I become?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of all, I realized I miss my wife. All her quirks and lists and mastery of the strange \u201cwash room.\u201d Our regular walks. Her laugh. How she soothes the chickens in the face of imaginary dangers. How whenever I sit down to read the newspaper or a book, she decides it\u2019s time to tell me a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s only been a few days, but it feels like an eternity. Soon we\u2019ll drive back up to the airport. Have our reunion in the arrivals area. Then get back to normal life with all three of us together again. The way it\u2019s supposed to be. With our air conditioning no longer producing snow flurries and our pillows in a perfect Pyramid of Giza. Which reminds me, I better get up there and work on that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How will we manage when mom goes away<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019re on our own. For a couple days at least. The two of us \u2013 my daughter and me. Trying to manage by ourselves. Whew! Heaven help us. <\/p>\n
My wife had to travel out of town on Easter Sunday. Sadly, her aunt passed away last week. Her family was gathering on Long Island, New York, to lay her to rest at a cemetery near the North Shore. It happened just before Easter, and that Sunday we drove her at five in the morning to put her on a flight. We said our goodbyes at the departures dropoff and wished her luck. The two of us got back in the car and looked at each other. Kind of lost. <\/p>\n
Now what do we do. <\/p>\n
Our little family is rarely apart. You take one member out of the mix and it becomes a strange troop of disoriented monkeys. The rhythms and routines altered. The noises different. The needs different. The household emptier. <\/p>\n
Add to that, so many things we know nothing about. <\/p>\n
I looked at my daughter and said: \u201cI think we\u2019re doomed.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[579,561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-nutshells","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}