Last week I was on vacation from work. Mabel and I were buds, hanging out together each day and enjoying the beginnings of spring. Flowers are blooming in our yard (planted by previous owners-- while I wish I were, I simply am not [yet] a green thumb), and we delighted in time on the slide and playing with beach toys. Mabel also accompanied me on errands- to Target, the post office, AutoZone, to name a few-- and was a fabulous lunch date at Panera.
The week's placidity was certainly broken by the despicable Marathon bombings. J and I became coverage- obsessed (I blogged once before about my need to know it all when it comes to these tragedies-- how it's an odd coping mechanism for me, but one that strangely works). But we all went to bed Thursday unaware of what would transpire in the wee hours of Friday-- a more- than- city- wide manhunt, a multi- community lockdown, and a state of raw anxiety for people living in those towns-- as well as for the onlookers-- the folks like us watching from afar. It was an honest relief when I gave Mabel lunch and put Sesame Street on for her. She lit up, as she always does, when she heard "Sunnny days, sweeping the clouuuuds away!" Mabel had no idea what was going on in the background of Abby Cadabby's Flying Fairy School and Elmo's World. I longed to be her, actually, in that the ignorance was bliss, and I enjoyed a carefree hour with her until we had to get into the car. Every radio station-- every single one-- aired news coverage, and there we were back in the mire. Don't get me wrong-- there was a twisted excitement to the ordeal, and I was bummed we were away from the TV when we had to go to a charity event that evening, but being away from it all was also sort of freeing by the 5th day.
But as everyone knows, they got the guy. The city and the state and the nation came together to support Beantown. The Red Sox gave a great tribute, and the Bruins did too. Bradley Cooper came to victims' bedsides. The governor and even the Vice- President of the country attended funerals. Donation funds were organized and have raised unfathomable amounts of money for victims. Memorials have been erected, flags flew at half- staff, and people have commemorated the deceased and injured on Twitter and Facebook. But now, as it's all over, people have to just go on. Parents have to live without the children they lost; adults and kids alike have to learn to walk without legs. People must return to the city for work, and we must keep at our daily routines. It's got to be the hardest part now. Grief has surely set in its purest form, and onward people have to go, despite the fear and terror and despair. When I think of these victims and their families, I hope they get to experience some "human sunrises," as Maya Angelou wrote about, and that I blogged about once before. I suppose it's all they've got.
And so while I don't want to insinuate in ANY way that I was gravely affected by what happened, I do want to say that on a much lesser scale, Mabel was my human sunrise all week. What joy there was in seeing her play, knowing that she knew nothing than what was right in front of her in our little house and in our grassy yard. We had a marvelous week together, and it seems the perfect time to explain just HOW she was a sunrise...
- Mabel is no longer allowed to come with me to Target-- at least for a while. :) The strap in the baby seat is just loose enough for her to turn around fully, shimmy up, and FULLY STAND. She insisted on this during our trip there last Monday. For safety's sake, I was left to take her out of the cart, and hold her in one arm while pushing the cart with the other. She demanded to be out of that seat, so this was her only alternative. While I was annoyed, her feisty way was also funny.
- She loves animals and babies, but recently, everything has been a "doggie"-- from the actual dogs she sees and hears (if she hears barking from afar-- even on TV-- she exclaims, "DOGGIIEEEE!!") to the red kangaroos we saw at Capron Zoo last Tuesday to little baby C, my friend's son who visited us on Thursday. She's said the word "baby" before but was cracking us up as she stood above C. repeating, 'Doggie!' while pointing at him. It's ok-- I get it-- puppies and babies are both cute, and you want to snuggle them
- Mabel also proclaims 'Doggie!' when you lie on the ground. She comes over and slams down over you, and all I can gather is that this is how she lies on my parents' dog (it's pretty effing cute), so she is reminded of him. So, yes, folks, we are all a bunch of doggies, really.
- She's still obsessed with going up the stairs, and when she enters the house, she runs over to them to see if by chance the gate isn't up. If we let her climb, we are always behind her.
- Mabel will now sit through an entire episode of Sesame. It's odd because we never forced it. But she loves to sit in a trance as she eats dinner. Hmmm... not sure if we are promoting Couch Potato- ism, but we will go with it because it is an educational show, not the crap I sometimes like to watch. If she were into the Kardashians, we would have an issue.
- Mabel also likes to say "cheese" and "shoe" (after she has taken her shoes OFF-- every single time we get in the car) and "tee" for TV, as she points the remote at it. She fusses if we refer to "night night?" if she isn't tired, as she fears a premature nap! And Mabel seems to have just discovered "no" while shaking her head that way. She's "saying" a bunch of other things repeatedly but I can't figure them out ("bubbyyyy??' not to be confused with "baba"; "naya- naya"; and "gaaa" and "geee" to name a few). Though, I do believe "meh" is milk. And as she has been for a while, she's still got the old stand- bys "mama" and "daddy" and "baba." When she hears J's key in the door, she runs like a mad-lady toward the door, chanting, "Dadddyyyy!"
- She loves to put on my bracelets and wear them around, and to put on J's shoes. She cracks up at that one.
- Alas, the little slugger still has only enough hair on the sides to be put into any kind of "style." Thus, she can rock these sweet little pig- tails, and that's about it. We sported the tails on Thursday, and it's funny how still and relaxed she gets when I do her hair. She must like it!
- Mabel likes arranging her babies and animals in her carriage and traveling about the house. She seems a woman on a mission. Her walk has evolved into a-- sometimes reckless- run. Poor Elmo and Abby probably have whiplash.
I could keep listing fun shiz that she is up to, but I remember that brevity is the soul of wit, and I think I've captured aptly a number of ways why my week with my Mabel was my week with a helper. A helper to see some of the cute and silly and light and airy when the condition of the world around us seemed dark.
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