Thursday, February 4, 2010

February makes me shiver

I love to talk to my daughter. Her teachers have always told me how much they enjoy the unique things that come out of her mouth. In this way, she reminds me of what I was like at her age, but she has a lot more confidence than I had.

My mother has been able to have a few phone conversations with my daughter, but M is quite aware that my mother has cancer and I think she has a pretty good idea what this means. I guess I can thank my Labradors for providing this valuable Life Lesson to my daughter, as they both got Mast Cell tumors in their “old age” and subsequent surgery before they died.

This morning, M and I were having a chat, and she offered up this gem: “Well, she got that cough, and you know what that leads to.” As if my mother’s pneumonia last year was the kiss of death, and a harbinger of her doom. Could be she’s right.

My daughter’s dad is coming for a visit next Thursday. It will be the second visit in five years. He is planning to stay for five days. She is very excited. Me, not so much. He is like a big awkward puppy that hasn’t been housetrained: You are afraid to leave him by himself and you don’t know where you can take him. I know that I am going to have to be the Cruise Director/Camp Counselor for the entire visit, and the thought of managing him for that long makes me want to take a long nap. I still don’t know where he’s going to be staying, but I imagine it will be somewhere that gets horrible reviews and smells bad.

February is an odd time to come to Colorado, since he doesn’t ski or do Winter sports and complains about the cold, but this is when he could get a cheap flight. Maybe I should take them to Fraser for the tubing. Fraser is often the coldest incorporated town in the lower 48 states, but it features one of the best tubing areas I’ve ever seen. It might be too scary for M yet, though, and that’s a long time to be in the car with her dad just to torture him.

Hmmm. I’m going to have to think about this.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my! What a grown-up comment from M! She's right though - nothing good can come of a bad cough.

    ((hugs)) for you about your mom and her grandmom.

    Love your description of the ex! That is a perfect way to depict him, and now I will think of a big-footed lanky puppy dog bumbling into stuff and knocking things over when I picture him. Well, that and Buster Bluth, which is my current mental image for him.

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  2. I was so worried for a moment that M's father was going to be staying with you.

    I shuddered at the thought, really.

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  3. But just think how fun the ride back from Fraser will be after you "forget" him there!

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  4. Yes, just don't tie his leash to the bumper and forget about him....

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  5. Bev: Thanks, babe. He looks more like Buster every day.

    Elliott: Ugh. No. I lived with him for 3 years; I've done my time.

    Frank: Too tempting. Really.

    Bev: If only he had a leash. He's completely untrained. His mother's problem, now, though!

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  6. His mother's problem. HAHAHA! What is he, 10?

    Good luck. Won't be easy for you but it will be good for M. Hopefully it will go quickly.

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  7. I'm off to google how long it is from Dresden, TN to Fraser, CO! I can always use a good place to drag the ex to and leave him LOL

    I can only imagine the dread you must be feeling. Try to stay upbeat for M's sake and remember 5 days isn't that long!

    I'm sorry to hear about your mom. {{{{HUGS}}} to you guys. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

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  8. Hey Hon, so tomorrow's the big day? I hope daughter's dad doesn't let her down. Twice in 5 years? That's quite a visitation schedule! I've missed you... :)

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  9. Cary: He seems 10. And he does live with his mother...

    OBMJ: If you make it to Fraser, be sure to stop by on the way home!

    Jessica!
    I've missed you, too! How are you? I was just posting about that - how funny. Yes, he is the poster child for Deadbeat Dads. Such a gem. I guess we'll see. He lets her down in all kinds of ways, but she is too young yet to realize it. I'd like to bury him in a snowdrift, but keep that to myself for her sake.
    So nice of you to stop by!

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