My apologies to you! It’s been a long time since I sent a blog that wasn’t dealing with one book promotion or another. But when people and their worlds are running around in my head like feral cats (of course), I have to get them down on “paper” and then share with as many people as I can, in hopes that they’ll love reading them as much as I did writing them.
This will be a difficult Christmas for one little girl (I’ll call her Kitty. That’s not her real name, but it makes her smile). She’s our 8-year-old granddaughter and she’s just moved into our household. We’ve taken very temporary custody of her from another state, while her mother is in the hospital in isolation with a horrible bacterium/ bacteria (they don’t know if there’s more than one). The last we heard, it might be March before she can get out of isolation. Poor kid, she’s so lonely! Add to that, her father (our son) is struggling with serious gastrointestinal issues, where he’s been admitted to the hospital once, is in and out of the ER, and seriously suffering, but he works nights. They had no one to take care of Kitty for an extended time. So, we swooped in and carried her off. We’re also paying our son’s bills now because of how much work he’s had to miss. I figure two ulcers, gallstones, and gastroenteritis gets him more than love and sympathy-type support from us. Of course, he has to listen to me fuss for allowing problems to get that bad! These are the times when it doesn’t matter what we pay, only that he gets better and can have his family back together.
I haven’t had an 8 y.o. around for 30 years. It’s amazing how much you forget. Our adult daughter lives with us; she teaches, but at the University. Different world all together (they’re freshmen; some of her tales make me wonder). Kitty isn’t a difficult child, but she’s been homeschooled, and lacks a lot of the sociability she’d get around other kids. So far, we’ve taught her please, thank-you, and you’re welcome, and not to whine when we ask her to follow the house rules (whew, that’s so much fun–not). Now we’re working on trying new foods. That’s not going very well at all. We eat a lot of Asian food, but also, just a variety of everything. She doesn’t want to try anything new! If anyone has any ideas, I’m listening. But she loves Jeopardy. When she hears something new to her, she very quietly repeats it to herself. This is a kid who is starving to learn more about the world around her (starving yes, just not for the food). My daughter and I can’t wait to start back with her once the holidays are over.
One thing that has returned to me is that children don’t have autonomy. They have no control over anything other than themselves. And now Kitty has three adults she hasn’t met since she was a toddler, telling her what to do (nicely, of course 😊). Even grumpy Grandpa is trying to be gentle. Children watch the adults around them for cues, and as I said, hubby and I haven’t had a kid around… And that kid hasn’t ever lived with children. Kitty is becoming fond of her, as her auntie has a lot more empathy than we do! We have to watch the language a bit more, the commentary about some TV stuff– Oh, and be careful what’s on TV in the first place. At least we don’t watch much mainstream TV, but even A&E or the History Channel catches us by surprise when viewed by an 8 y.o., at times.
On our end of a Merry Christmas, we’re all sick now with varying degrees of either a nasty cold or some flu that found its way in. It’s spread out among us so that none of us should be out. Doesn’t that always happen around the holidays? Christmas shopping= Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, and various little companies we’re trying to support. That always gives me a nice little feeling inside! I would have liked to take Kitty shopping but can’t do it this time.
In closing, I truly hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Christmas with family, friends, and cats. OK, and dogs and ferrets. And hamsters. And snakes (you know who you are). If you can, please support your local shelters for homeless people and animals!
Love, Debi and her Family–three adults, one Kitty, and eight cats
P.S.–Just had to sneak in some links!
You must log in to post a comment.