Last Night

Last night, my daughter was invited to go with to a rock concert with a friend. Her friend lives here in the mobile home park where we live and her brother is the bass player for a major punk rock band that my kids followed when they were in their teens and early 20s. So my daughter and her husband were invited to join the bass player’s family in a limo ride to the venue and backstage privileges and all sorts of goodies. Normally, one of them would have stayed with the kids but this time around, they both needed to go. I say needed because they’ve been through some really tough times this year. Some of you might remember that they were on the verge of being evicted a few months ago and had to resort to a Go Fund Me account to raise rent money. Last week one car was repossessed. They were able to get it back using the rent money which now they are working on raising by Saturday (I think they’ve almost got it by collecting on money owed them and doing extra jobs for friends). This week the other car was repossessed and they’ve decided there are no more Peters to rob to pay the Pauls so they aren’t going to try to get that back. I’m in no position to help them financially.

So when they were invited to go she talked to me about watching the kids. She had arranged for a friend to watch the baby who is too heavy for me to pick up while I am recovering from surgery and too heavy for my 85 year old mother. So we agreed to watch the boys and a friend from around the corner would come get Maya when she woke up. It was fine until Maya woke up and the woman came to get her. Spencer, who is four and loves his baby sister, got very upset when he saw her leaving with the neighbor lady. He kept saying “We no have a baby no more, Nana.” I kept explaining that she would be coming back in a few hours but he was still upset. My mom almost cried when Maya left, too. I didn’t feel so great about it but I just can’t carry her. I’m not supposed to lift or carry more than eight pounds and Maya, at almost six months, is about twenty-one pounds!

It all worked out. My daughter and her husband enjoyed their night off and were really excited when they got back. They had stopped to get the baby before coming home so when they walked in, they had Maya who was happy to be back home and smiling at us all. I hope the night off works to give them both a boost in their energy and confidence so they can make it through this difficult time.

Families have to stick together and help each other out as much as they can. At least that’s what I think.