Spent the day with my son. And he’s not five anymore. What a difference a decade can make. Kind of feeling a little nostalgic at the moment… though it might be the sangria. I only had one bottle.. no.. not a full size wine bottle… just a single Seagrams Escapes. Very tasty… but I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking. One glass can leave me all giddy at the sight of a puppy or in full blown tears after a 30 second Hallmark commercial. In any case..at the moment I’m feeling mellow and thinking of my son.. then and now.
Being a single parent I was always able to make Sam the center of my attention. We went places together.. talked about life and how things worked… made up stories and laughed at each other’s particular style of jokes. And every single night we ended the same exact way. He’d be in bed and I’d say.. “know what?” and he’d reply, “what?”… I’d repeat.. “know what?”… and he’d say, “what?” Then after a 5 second pause we’d open our mouths at the exact same moment and say together.. “I LOOOVE YOUUU!” Yeah yeah.. I know. It was adorable. As was he. Very light brown hair.. green eyes.. and a woobie tucked under his chin.
A woobie. Like on Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton. You remember… that kid had this old ratty blanket he used to carry around like it was an emphysemic’s oxygen tank. No kidding.. it was just that critical to his existence. As was Sam’s woobie. It wasn’t a blanket though. It was an old diaper… not a used one.. that would be gross. It was one of those white rectangular shaped cloth ones that you actually needed real diaper sized safety pins if you wanted to use it on a kid. I bought about two dozen of them when he was born. And no I am not the greatest mom in the modern world. Sorry to disappoint. I bought them to use as burp cloths… also gross. For the other thing I went straight to pampers. The world was going green but so was the stuff in those diapers and I didn’t plan on washing and reusing them. Sue me.
In those days I’d load him up in the car seat and drag him and his endless array of baby bags to any place we might be headed. Restaurants… nana’s house.. work… friends… grocery shopping…I took him everywhere with me. As a matter of fact the current teen reminded me just yesterday of a special day when he was about 3 months old. In his exact words I “left (him) abandoned in the hot car all alone In a parking lot.” Which was true. Sort of. He left out that I was at the bank and as soon as I closed my door I realized it was locked and the keys were inside. I totally panicked. My head may have done a 360 degree turn as I searched everywhere for another living soul in the vicinity. Seeing no one. I searched as hysterically for a brick possibly lying conveniently next to my car with which I could break out a window and rescue my poor and soon to be dehydrating infant son.
Seeing no such object of destruction within easy reach I glanced once more at my sleeping son in his little car seat with the red and black designs … because they help infants’ eyes develop more quickly… I was always current on the child development literature… I ran ..and I mean ran.. into the bank and grabbed the slightly startled but thankfully aged guard at the front door. I’m sure I appeared a raving lunatic as I yelled and cried at the same time.. but he got the point. Baby locked in car. Mother hysterical. He’d seen it before.
Within minutes I was back outside the passenger side window of my red Ford Sprint looking in at my precious baby.. still sleeping. And I was not alone. If I was in a condition to count I’m sure I would have gotten up to 15 or so bank goers who had followed us outside to offer their suggestions… and watch the show. Somebody in the bank must have called the cops because soon sirens filled the air. Sheriff’s deputy and an ambulance arrived… at the same moment as the tow truck.
I’m sure at this moment you are reading and laughing. Go ahead. Most people do when I tell this story. Including the ungrateful galoot who brought it up yesterday. But it was a difficult time for a new mother. All those hormones and stuff. I’m thinking a little pity is in order here.
So the tow truck guy saved the day and possibly my sanity… though that’s a toss up… by opening Sam’s door with one of those crow bar looking things. The ambulance attendance took Sam from the car seat and gave him a once over. I cried. Still. The cop patted me on the shoulder.. some lady hugged me.. everybody smiled and told me it was going to be okay… mumbling under their breaths I’m sure that crazy chicks shouldn’t have kids… and then I got to take Sam home. Still sleeping. In that way I guess he really hasn’t changed.. he does love to sleep.
FYI.. said teen just read this.. he laughed and asked why I started out saying I had a great day with my son and then ended up talking about him 15 years ago. Smart aleck. Hasn’t he ever heard of free style writing.. or better yet.. the mom is always right?! Freeloader. He’d best be careful.. otherwise his frozen pizzas may magically disappear. Uh huh.
But today really was pretty cool. We were headed to the Apple store to bring in my ailing laptop computer. Sam was happy to go since he needed to trade in his also ailing ear buds that came with his brand new iPhone. Also he wanted a new cover for that teenage lifeline. In a way it’s like his old woobie.. he goes nowhere without it.
On the ride over we talked about interstate driving… since he’s a driver now too… and gas prices.. and high school.. and dinosaurs. On interstate 4 there is a place called Dinosaur World. It’s a cheesy tourist trap that has a few dozen giant sized (to a kid) colorful fiberglass dinosaurs. A sidewalk takes you on a walking tour and little placards by each one tell you what they were and who they ate. You can take pics with them and even ride a few… if you are stealthy and the attendant is talking on the phone to his girlfriend instead of watching the park. We went a couple of times when Sam was little. He loved it. Right up until the time wasps attacked from the T-Rex’s gaping mouth. They never covered wasp attacks in Jurassic Park… but it was an adventure worthy of being caught on film. And the last time we visited the dinosaurs.
At the Apple store Sam was dutifully embarrassed by his mother’s harsh words to the blue shirted “genius” when informed her expensive computer had experienced a “fluke” of a meltdown and was going to cost $400 to repair. Embarrassed but quiet. It’s a long walk home from the Apple store. Then he took care of his ear bud problem and we left.
Lunch was next. And to placate me, he allowed us to forego the noise of the food court.. reminds me of a middle school cafeteria… and picked a cool place called California Pizza instead. For the very first time in our restaurant going history, it was Sam the hostess talked to when we entered. She never even looked at me. Asked him how many in the party.. if a booth was alright with him… Later he said she also kind of looked at us funny. To which I wanted to go and inform the girl that I was no cougar… that indeed this gorgeous young man to whom she had addressed was my son, thank you very much. Sheesh. People and their assumptions.
Sam just laughed. And ate his pizza. The whole entire eight slice pizza. Though in his defense he did reject the notion of dessert as suggested by the waitress. He does have some self control.
Actually he is a phenomenal kid. I love him more every day. And even though we don’t play the “know what” game as much anymore… he still remembers his “special word” I gave him as a 3 year old and he has kept all his life. A word to new parents.. every family needs a special secret word. Sam always knew that if a person came up to him he did not know… and suggested Sam should go with him… that person was a stranger.. and unless the person knew the special word he didn’t have my permission to take Sam anywhere. And in the absence of the special word Sam would act according to plan.. and yell “STRANGER.. STRANGER!” at the top of his lungs while he ran for another adult. He also knew his full name, my full name, our telephone number and address.
Smart kid. Special kid. Love of my life. And I’ll take up a brick any day of the week to break him out of a locked car… though today that would probably be because he was trying
to lock me out. Heh. Jokes on him. Once a son.. always a son. Then and now.
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