Thursday, June 2, 2016

Bittersweet


I spent most of the day with this guy and his mama, trying to help. Jessie moved through the day, packing clothes for all of them and blankets and toys and baby things galore, trying to make sense of chaos, making lists, crossing things off, and stopping when she needed to nurse her boy, or when she just had to, to admire him and tickle him and make him giggle. 
Vergil was at home, but was working from his office and so it was mostly just me and Jessie although Boppie came over and went and got pizza for our lunch but mostly so he could play with that little boy whom he adores so much for just a few minutes more before he left. 


August is fascinated by his grandfather. He is such a looking boy, that one, and a thinking boy. He studies things intensely and touches them and you can absolutely see that brain of his working it all out, putting it all into whatever perspective he has acquired so far. He and I played a long game of Peek-a-boo and he loved pulling the blanket off of my face when I had covered it. He says, "Hey!" now, and I am almost certain he means it as a greeting because he uses it appropriately. He also did the baby wave at Greta, opening and closing his fingers towards her. Oh, the things he is going to learn in the next few months! As sad as I am for him to be leaving, I am excited for his mountain people to get to love on him. To be a part of him in all ways. 

Here he is, helping his mother pack. 


He wants to pull up on everything and I watched him today as he was holding on to a basket filled with toys, first with two hands, then leaning on it to reach in and get what he wanted, then with one hand so that he could play with whatever toy he'd taken out, and then balancing himself against it in order to play with the toy with both hands. 
He'll be standing soon. 

I sat on that bed where Jessie was packing and thought about the night she had August and how I'd made a little nest up there where those pillows are, waiting for Jessie to do all the work with Vergil helping her through every contraction. When I rocked him in his nursery today, trying fruitlessly to get him to sleep for a nap, I remembered rocking him there when he was a few hours old so that his parents could eat some soup before they all got tucked back into bed together. 


Nine months ago. Remember that? 

When it was finally time for them to leave today, when Vergil had loaded everything into his truck and tied a tarp over it and made everything secure, Jessie put August into his car seat. He was tired and a little fussy and I just rocked his car seat and sang to him and he slowly fell asleep, his lids falling over those beautiful brown eyes. 
I like thinking that the last thing he saw before he left was his Mermer. 

I kissed them all good-bye, bade them travel safely, and got into my own car and left. 

What a rich life that little boy has. What excellent parents. And grandparents who love him and new cousins to get to know and an aunt and an uncle and more relatives than you can shake a stick at up there in North Carolina. 
I can't begrudge the little man all that love and different experiences and scenery and smells and adventures. I would be a pitiful grandmother if I did. 

And I am NOT a pitiful grandmother. I want all of the riches for my grandchildren that life can afford them. 

Time to make supper. 

Love...Ms. Moon





11 comments:

  1. Oh Mary.....I could picture every move your little August made in this day. A day for you to soak in the day before they move up north. Memories so sweet and dear for all of you. And yes, it must be a new chapter for the three of them which will just add more depth to each day forward for them. I'll be thinking of you as we both have children away and my middle daughter is near Brevard, North Carolina. A new life that I wish I could be a part of but for now it is a phone or texting (which I personally don't equate to being the same as hearing and seeing by a long shot but I'll take it).

    I love that photo of you rocking August but to see your hubby smile as he holds his grandson is priceless....

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  2. I wish I could remember the name of the children's book about visiting relatives for the summer. There was a sentence about the grapes turning purple. I read it to my kids when they were small. At the end of the summer the family returns home. Drat! I am going to have to really think about the title.

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  3. Well that made me teary. What a lucky boy. Letting go, not an easy part of loving, but you do it with such grace.

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  4. Ms. Darling Moon. I had to leave my phone (from whence I most often read Bless Our Hearts these days, and which is not all that friendly for commenting) so that I COULD comment. Your family, it must go with no saying at all, is beyond words: filled with the love instilled by you and Mr. Moon and all your deep and wide and nurturing circle. They take my breath away, and I expect I am not alone. As ever, you bless them always with your, and their, comings and goings. And as ever, you, and they, model the dream we all wish for our darlings. May they be peaceful, joyful and continuing. Much love, and humble thanks to you for snatching the blessings when you can in these beautiful flashes of light.
    Miss Angie

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  5. OMG. I remembered the title. (With the help of the internet.) It is called The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant and Stephen Gammell

    "In a rainbow-colored station wagon that smelled like a real car, the relatives came. When they arrived, they hugged and hugged from the kitchen to the front room. All summer they tended the garden and ate up all the strawberries and melons. They plucked banjos and strummed guitars.
    When they finally had to leave, they were sad, but not for long. They all knew they would be together next summer."

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  6. Ellen- So strange how painful it is to let our babies leave the nest no matter how many times it happens. And yet, as we grow older, we realize how important it is that we do.
    And realize even more how deep our love for those babies is.

    Birdie- I HAVE that book and I love it! It's a joy, isn't it? I knew exactly what you were talking about when I read your first comment.

    Bethany- Well, it's not easy but I know it's a beautiful thing and so...well...vaja con Dios, right? And come back soon!

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  7. I feel in between the words how much you're missing them already. A piece of you goes with them. This is love, such exquisite love.

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  8. Ah, but as soon as our loves leave, we can begin counting down the days and the hours until we see them again ... you are a wonderful grandmother, Mary, and the time will fly by - truly it will.

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  9. He is a most excellent baby.

    And Jessie and Vergil and almost mythically fabulous parents.

    You should definitely go visit.

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  10. Nine months! Wow, does time fly!

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