Sleepover Report

 

When Maggie was leaving to go home today, I told her that I didn't think I'd ever had a sweeter sleepover with my grandchildren than the one we had together. And she smiled that darling smile and thanked me again for asking her over. 
It was lovely.
Now I'm going to tell you something- Maggie can be a...well, how do I put this? She can be a force of nature. The child can throw a fit with the best of them. If she doesn't get her way with her mama she will throw down. Her temper is fiery. Her temperament can be volatile. She is the most emotive and demanding of all the cousins. 
This does not surprise me. 
Her mother was exactly the same. If not worse. I thought Lily would break me. And she almost did. I doubt there was ever a trip with her out of the house when she did not throw a fit. Tantrums were her love language. She kicked. She screamed. She wanted what she wanted and if she didn't get it, there was no peace for anyone. And I hear that one of Mr. Moon's sisters was much the same growing up. So perhaps this sort of thing is genetic. I'd already had two children when I had Lily so I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing when it came to mothering. 
I was disabused of this belief by the time she was three months old. She never slept, she cried endlessly. It's like she did not want to be here, she did not want me as her mother, and she was not pleased with anything on this earth. 
She finally grew out of this phase when she turned eighteen and we got a townhouse in Tallahassee and moved her in to it. She started Community College and lived on her own and immediately, we were all happier, Lily probably most of all. And she decided that she loved me, that it was okay FOR her to love me, and we've pretty much been tight as ticks ever since. And I have to point out that she never acted out at school. Not ever. And she was pretty sweet with her Daddy. 
Because of course.
And now she's the greatest mom herself, she is so good with customers at her work, she is an altogether amazing woman. 
And she is Magnolia's mother. 
So knowing how Magnolia can be, I am so gratified when she is here and is as sweet as tupelo honey. I mean truly. 
Last night she found two books for us to read. One, the heartbreakingly beautiful, "It's Time To Sleep, My Love."

And the other was "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed." All my littles have loved this book and no matter how many times I've read it, I love it too. 

And she read it to me. With expression, as we used to say. 
And then I kissed her goodnight, pulled up her covers, and she was asleep. And she slept the sleep of the innocent and charmed all night long. 

We had our pancakes this morning and she helped me make them, cracking the eggs and mixing the batter. She got to ride on the four-wheeler with Boppy down to the Post Office. And then, while I was washing the dishes, she started playing on her own. She played with every doll and stuffed animal in this house. She created stories for them all. She did this for at least an hour. I used to do this too, and I love seeing her entertain herself this way with her own imagination. When it was time for her to go home, she did not want to leave but her Boppy had told Lauren that he'd help her trim branches at their house and he needed to get over there to do it. 
"Why can't I just stay here while he does that?" she asked. 
And when I told her that no, that was not the way it was going to be, she said, "Okay," and got ready to go. She must have told me ten times how much she loved being here and I told her the same. 
"You've been so good and so helpful," I told her. 
"And no fighting!" she said. And then she corrected herself. "I mean, no arguments."

I told her how proud I was of her and I was although of course Boppy and I let her do mostly whatever she wanted but she didn't ask to do anything outrageous. And that is the joy of being a grandparent. Our responsibilities towards the grandchildren are mostly to keep them alive and fed while they're with us. And while it sometimes seems that as a parent, our entire job is to deny our children the things they want- candy, more TV, staying up late, not eating vegetables, and on and on, and on, as grandparents we can indulge them in ways that parents can't. I mean- to a degree, of course. 

So it was a beautiful visit and I am honestly VERY proud of Magnolia June.

And it's been another beautiful day. I did a little garden weeding, listening to Colson Whitehead's "Crook Manifesto" which is the follow-up novel to "Harlem Shuffle" which I loved so much I read twice, once by eye, once by ear. He is an amazing author and I love the way he moves his plots along, as gracefully and purposefully and artfully as the way a pretty snake moves through the grass. 

The mulberries are starting to leaf. If you look carefully, you can even see their tiny fruits forming. I wonder if this year will be a good year for mulberries or not. Our crop varies wildly from year to year. 

And here are some more anoles. They seem to have chosen this place of peeling paint by the kitchen steps as their favorite gathering spot. 

Oh, how I love their clever little hands. 

Love...Ms. Moon