My mother in law hands me a paper, I put it down and walk away, Sunday is busy for me, I try to do everything I couldn't do the prior week.
"I need to be at the airport at 4." She says.
"In the morning?"
"No, late time." She means afternoon. My husband just started a new position, he will not be dropping off the delivery at the airport, and I need 3 days notice. I call around and realize I must take unplanned time off, just great.
I go to the back to talk to her, she is preparing for the trip, her luggage is open. Just one solitary piece, big enough to hold Juno if she wanted to take him for the lunch special #7.
She is taking a couple pants, multiple shirts (we are big on granimals) and medication. We have 2 bottles of Tylenol, and the same thing in generic, she thinks it's different, I just nod, vitamins and lotions, and 6 bags of cinnamon discs. Her main source of nutrition, and possibly the reason for her many dentist appointments and even more dizzy spells.
I go by the list of all the important things, flight information, cash, change, visa, passport. She is surprisingly prepared.
And this comes as a shocker, since she is on her second beer for the night. She is self medicating to sleep well. (Apparently Tylenol PM, did not make the cut)I lay in her bed and try to get mike d to sleep, it is bedtime for all of us, especially drunkie. She steps outside to smoke and I take off the lights and tv, not being familiar with her room, I feel my way back to the bed and stay quiet.
I hear movement and wonder if mike d is flipping around, waiting for a yawn. Her light is in the middle of the ceiling with a long cord hanging just low enough for a child to tug and switch the light on and off. A dresser in the middle of the room. You guessed it. The light turns on and mike d is clapping and standing on the dresser drawer. The words "I did it." slightly detected. I try to grab him and take him to my room, he holds on to the pillows and covers and screams, this is her last night here, her trip is bittersweet, the loss of a sibling must be devestating, she is still mourning. The two months will feel like a lifetime.
I get up and turn the light off after the mini meltdown, now the tv magically comes to life, The Wonder Pets, as the hamster flies in a soccer outfit to Italy to help a duck, really? He starts to dance and spin.
I sit up and wait for more electronic devices to perk up. Mike d opens the fridge and brings me the bottle. I warm it.
The mother in law comes in. She explains I heated it up too much, of course I did.
Mike d is now on the bean bag, the green one with silver electric tape covering the holes made by Juno and mike d. His feet swing on the tv stand from side to side. She explains and argues that he needs to sleep and it's her turn to watch the world poker tournament. Negotiating with a 2 year old is fun. He places his hands on his ears and screams as he stares at the ceiling. Oh joy.
"Now my turn, you had all day. You write." She hands him pencils, he flings them across the room. I feel like I am watching that tv show Top Shots in 3D as the pencils fly in the air, the shooting reality show, where they shoot different weapons.
She picks them up and encourages him to climb on her back to sleep. I sit by the side and watch, not leaving the two of them alone. Knowing that this is the perfect mixture for a 911 call in the making. She explains how I should sing to him to sleep in korean. She starts off slow, possibly in soprano. Then with each syllable she takes a step, she kicks like a horse and commands something when he lifts his head, he plops his head back down, she continues. I watch and listen, I don't know that I could sing it, but I could hum it. She sings the same lyrics over and over. He finally falls asleep and I step outside, close to midnight now.
My room and her room share a wall, I walk outside and I lean into the window in the back of her apartment/room. I see where she is now laying on the bean bag, her candies in one hand the remote in the other. She covers herself with a blanket and watches the World Poker Tournament, mike d sound asleep at her side. She carresses his head in grandmotherly affection. *Sigh*
Although she drives me to drink the strong stuff, she has no clue how much she will be missed.
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