Claudine took Averie on her very first plane ride yesterday. Just a short one-hour flight to visit her parents in Windsor for Thanksgiving weekend. I opted to stay home and grumpily work on my book.
On the bus ride home from dropping them to the airport, I sat behind a woman who was picking at her dandruff in a dedicated fashion. She was really going at it, so I moved seats to a less flaky area.
This is the first time our little family has been apart since Averie was born. It is weird to say goodbye and have pieces of your soul fly off into the sky.
Being a parent makes you rethink every risk in life. Big or small.
Like why airports insist on calling a place where you go to board a flying cylinder of metal, a “Terminal”, is beyond me. Which really doesn’t help if you have a tendency towards pessimism.
For the most part we spend so much time and energy trying to keep things alive. That is pretty much the only expectation that anyone has of you when you bring a newborn baby home. Make sure you keep this and yourself alive.
I have an emotional episode every time a squirrel (cat, dog, raccoon, whatever) runs across the street. I feel desperate hoping that it makes it to the other side. Staying and keeping things alive can be taxing on the nerves.
This will be the first weekend I have had alone in a very long time. I only have to keep myself alive this weekend. (Well also the dog and cat, but they are pretty easy-going.)
Claudine was worried that Averie might explosively poop at some point during the flight. But she didn’t.
The journey was mostly a success even though she did cry for about 20 of the 60 minute flight.
A woman with a mermaid costume sticking out of her bag sat next to me on the bus and that distracted me from thinking about it all.
When I got home I opened a can of cider and tried not to ponder about how quiet it seemed.
Family makes a house a home.
3 Comments
Beautiful beautiful beautiful post. You make me look forward to this chapter of my life!
The chapter when you drink cider until you pass out on the couch?
Yep Tracy everything changes when a baby becomes a part of your life. Keeping safe is the true priority. On the question of animals crossing the road try a hysterical turkey running back and forth. I came to a complete stop and just prayed no one hit it. Thank goodness they didn’t. Every thanksgiving we have turkey episodes in my neighbourhood. It’s still enough country. A couple years ago they stopped traffic as one by one a whole bunch of them crossed the road. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you get lots of writing under your belt