Hi, my name is Kelly and I write about being a dad. Let me tell you 
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youtubeFriday, May 29th, 2009
A Time for Everything
“Why is she crying?” Josie asked.
I sat down on the couch next to Alleke and lifted her into my arms. “Because Alleke has to say goodbye to her cousins, and she’s not going to see them for a very long time. Not until Christmas.”
Alleke screeched again like tires skidding through an intersection, then she lunged at me and clawed at my face. Josie and the other cousins cowered next to the coffee table, looking at each other, not sure what to do.
“Alleke’s crying because she’s sad,” I explained, tears coming to my eyes. “She’s going to miss you.”
It was not easy to get Alleke to put her sandles on before we left. I didn’t even try with her coat. “I hate goodbyes,” my sister said as she gave me a hug. By the time we got to the car and I lowered Alleke into her carseat, she lay there like a lifeless corpse, having given up her fight, while I fed her arms through the straps and buckeled her in.
The ride back to Papa and Grandma’s house was quiet, and I thought about how miserable we all were about having to leave our family at the end of the week. Alleke had been high maintenance for days, and April and I had all but given up on parenting. We were in survival mode until we got back to Madrid.
A wise man once said, “There’s a time for everything,” and this week was the time for giving Alleke whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it, no questions asked. After all, that’s what I’m expecting from everyone else until we were gone.
MORE ON: cousins, iowa, parenting, travel, US
2 COMMENTS
That’s what I’ve been saying to Dave in the last few days.
Hamish is my newborn…and Ara is his newborn….respond respond.
We’ve notices a difference since we’ve started this idea and to have time to ourselves again as a family without outside ‘help’.
So as you say once you get back on your own grounds it will all fall back into place.
This too will pass
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lisa said...
The transitional times between the continents of our lives… wow, they are never easy. And we can point at the 2 yr olds and say they are having a hard time with it, but the 4 of us (49, 46, 15 and 10) were all exceptionally grumpy with each other recently and I knew it was Suitcase Syndrome setting in.
Blessings of peace and grace, peace and grace.
May 30, 2009 at 12:08 am