Me and my mom and Levi left for Florida on Sunday to visit Mom's family. After waking up at 6:45 in the morning and listening to twelve hours of Signing Time and Sesame Street in the car, I almost kissed the ground when we reached my grandparents' house.
I'd seen my grandparents over the summer during Levi's heart surgery, but I hadn't seen my cousins since the Christmas before last. Honestly, I was afraid that I wouldn't know them anymore, that we'd have to take a long time to reform a connection we once had, but I was dead wrong. All they needed was a little time.
Angel (age 11) is homeschooled at a tutorial, so we had some time together on Monday. Believe it or not, we bonded over homework. He liked to see what I was working on (Geometry) and liked to show me what he was doing too. And when I decided to stop for the day, he loved that I chose to help him with his homework.
Annie (age 9) is in public school, so I hadn't gotten much of a chance to see her yet. When she got home, she immediately came to the room where me and Angel were having a Guitar Hero battle, and asked if I could cook something with her.
"Of course!" I replied, and we headed to the kitchen. We got out her EasyBake Oven and put on our aprons. She decided on a cake (although I really wouldn't call it a cake, it was so small. More like a fluffy sugar cookie). We mixed all the ingredients together, and all the while I was explaining to her how cake batter should look, and other rules of the trade.
While our smallish "cake" was cooling, I decided to go outside and see what Angel and his two friends were doing. It turned out to be baseball. Now, I was excited! I played softball for about 4 years - fall and spring ball - and I hadn't been able to play the last few seasons (too old for the league). I was disappointed, at first, that I wasn't able to even make contact with the ball when I was at bat. But after about an hour of playing, I had my mojo back, and Angel and his older friend were fighting over whose team I got to be on.
Angel and Annie went to bed giving me hugs, much more comfortable with me than they'd been the night before. All they needed was a little time. Not much, just some quality attempts at bonding. They're both at school today, and now I can't wait for them to get home!
So in closing, greetings from Florida! And never understimate the power of time.
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I think that was my favorite post yet. :D
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