Brothers And Sisters, Cousins, And The Middle Finger

Lily sent this picture to the group text a little while ago and I cannot tell you how much I love it. Owen was helping Maggie blend her eyeshadow because she had it too clumped up. Now if that's not the sweetest big brother in the world, I don't know what is. I'll never forget how incredibly excited Owen was when he heard that his mama was going to have a little girl baby. Or, a woman baby as the ultra-sound tech said. He had wanted a little sister with all of his heart. I know I've told this story many times before but when Maggie was born and I brought Owen and Gibson over here to play to give Lily and Jason and their new baby a little time alone together, Owen was not that happy about the idea. 
"I've been waiting for this my entire life!" he said.

I was the oldest child in my family and had three younger brothers and always wished I'd had an older brother. My mother had two older brothers and she adored and worshipped them. It looked like a good situation to me but that's not how it worked in situation and I adored my little brothers and was second mama to the two youngest for many years. 

Ah, y'all have heard all of that. 

Guess what I did today? 

Yep. I went to Publix and Costco with Jessie, August, and Levon. I had a great time. We went to lunch too. I thought the boys were pretty well-behaved. They did run a few races down the wide aisles of the Costco but were polite about staying out of people's way. August wanted to go eat lunch at the restaurant where you "serve yourself." He meant Chow Time. 
Didn't have to ask me twice. 
So that's where we went. Jessie only let them get one dessert today and they both picked sherbet which cracked me up. Neither one of them realized that's what we make their purple cows with.
There was a woman who was seated in the same dining area we were in, who stopped to talk to us. She talked. And talked. And talked. I think her husband had already eaten at least one plate of food before she even got her own plate. And although she wasn't completely inappropriate or whacky, she sort of was. And the boys just sat there and listened. At one point she asked August if she could sit by him. 
"Maybe," he said which I thought was pretty diplomatic.  
God. I'm probably going to be that lady when I get a few more years on me. I already interact with cashiers and strangers more than I think most people do.
I've been thinking that I should air fry Mr. Moon some chicken wings soon because he does love them so and the kind of chicken I like to buy only had "wing-ettes" and I had no idea what in hell that was so I asked a guy who was also examining the meat if he knew anything about chicken wings. 
"Not really," he said. And I still proceeded to say a few more things to him and he didn't want to hear me. He had earbuds in, for heaven't sake. I need to watch this behavior of mine and not let it get out of hand. I don't mind being viewed as eccentric but I really don't want to be a freaking pest. 

August shopped with me for awhile, holding on to the cart as I pushed it. He was my boy today. He asked me if I had bread at home and I said that I did. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Because you know Levon likes peanut butter and banana sandwiches and you need bread for that."
"Planning on coming over to my house?" I asked him. 
"Yes," he said. 
And in fact I think they will on Thursday when Jessie and Vergil will both be working. 

When we went into Publix, Lily was just getting off and we stood and chatted for a moment. She was off to pick up her babies. Levon and August wanted to know when Maggie was going to come to visit them again. 

"That's up to your mama," Aunt Lily said. I'm sure it will happen. 

One more thing I'd like to mention is that August and Levon drove to the restaurant from Costco with me. I still have their seats in my car. They were talking about something and August was about to ask me a question and then he said, "Never mind." 
"What?" I asked. 
"Never mind," he said again. 
"You know you can talk about anything to me, right?" Even as I said this I thought oh shit, what have I done?

"Even poop?" 
"Well sure, as long as you have something interesting to say about it or want to know about it but not if you just want to talk about poop for a long time for no reason."
"Even the middle finger?"
Aha! 
"Sure," I said. And we did have a little discussion about it and I told them that the middle finger was only to be raised in very, very extreme circumstances like if you were driving and someone was speeding and almost hit your car.
They contemplated this and began a discussion on car crashes, the middle finger forgotten for that moment at least. 

Like I always say, I do love conversations with children. They almost never fail to amuse and sometimes enlighten me. 

And that's about all I have to say except that it's stupid hot, as Glen said today when he came in from the outside. I swear, just walking through a parking lot is exhausting. 

Summer in Florida on steroids. 

Oh. This man died today. 

Actually, THIS man died today.

Paul Reubens. 

Pee Wee will never die. 

Love...Ms. Moon