It's even better when they can make it for special events our kids are involved in. They were able to take time out of their busy schedules to come witness Lorelai's baptism last September. Now, the following spring, they were able to come see Lorelai's play and spend Easter Sunday with the family. Lorelai has sure been getting spoiled by "Colorado Grandma & Grandpa" this year; maybe next time Celeste or Aurora will be able to get some special attention (although in fairness, Aurora did get to spend the days with Grandma & Grandpa by herself when the older girls were at school).
My mom just missed out on Lorelai's performance, because she'd taken a detour to Salt Lake City and wasn't able to find a flight to Tucson at the right time. Mom had taken a mini-vacation from Colorado to attend a science fiction convention that was being held in the Salt Palace Convention Center. The con was only a year old at the time, but it was already huge. Mom was a little overwhelmed, but she still had the presence of mind to call me and ask what kind of souvenirs our family would like. That's true love for you! She brought Nathan and I some neat T-shirts:
Mom also got each of the girls a cute little stuffed animal as well. She did feel bad about missing Lorelai's play, but she is getting a DVD of the play soon so she'll be able to experience it that way. Plus, the girls were so happy to see her on Easter morning that I think they forgave her very quickly.
My parents went to sacrament meeting with us on Sunday morning, then left afterwards to help hide our Easter eggs. Since we have had afternoon church for such a long time, Nathan and I had wondered how we were going to pull off the Easter egg hunt with church in the morning. Do we hide the eggs that Saturday night (or really early Sunday morning), then tell the girls to ignore them as we hustle out the door to church? Or do we do the egg hunt in the wee hours of the morning, and then start eating them after church? Luckily, my parents helped us sidestep that problem this year.
Grandma and Grandpa stayed a few days after Easter as well, just to hang out with the family. Confession: I like to think of myself as a grown, independent woman. But when my mom and dad come to visit, I love to be spoiled by them. I love going out to eat every day, I love that they offer to buy me clothes, I love that they ask what home goods & products we need, and I love that my dad always wants to help with home projects when he comes. This storm of generosity sometimes makes me feel like a helpless teen/young adult again. It can also make me feel like a huge moocher, despite my parent's protestations that I am anything but. I hope I will be able to pay all this kindness forward someday, either to my own children & grandchildren or to others who may be in need of it.
Here's a quick list of all the things Mom and Dad did for us on this trip:
-Attended Lorelai's play
-Ate Easter dinner at our house
-Bought us some groceries, on more than one occasion
-Took us out to eat several times! We went to Oregano's in Tucson, a fun fusion-styled Italian restaurant; Poco and Mom's for lunch, a terrific, New Mexican-style cafe; Saigon Flavor, a local Vietnamese place; and Asian Sky, a local Chinese place that delivers. Among other places!! My parents love to go out to eat and they love to treat their children. These things definitely worked out in our favor.
-Bought us a bunch of home-improvement stuff from Lowe's (details to follow)
-Pruned our mesquite tree in the front yard (I finished the job after Dad left, but he helped out a lot with the lower-hanging branches)
-Took down four sets of cheap Levolor blinds and put up some sturdier ones in their place (the girls had destroyed one of the cheap blinds in their bedroom. As a result, the whole neighborhood could see into their room at night. Luckily, this incident happened right before the grandparents visited, so we were able to hit them up for some newer, faux-wood blinds that will be much sturdier. When we first moved here three years ago, Nathan's parents kindly helped us install all the blinds in the house. However, due to budget constraints, we had to mismatch some of them. Our upstairs windows now all have matching blinds, for the first time since we've lived here. Hooray!)
-Sprayed our backyard with pre-emergent grass and weed killer. Pre-emergent is a chemical we buy from a local store, which kills all seedlings underground and prevents them from growing during the rainy season (and thus turning our backyard into a jungle in the late summer). It's pretty easy to spray the yard; you just attach a prayer to the hose, make sure you have a proper mix of chemical & water in the tank, and spray away. Still, it was nice to have Dad's help.
-Installed a new ceiling fan. Lorelai will soon be getting her own room; she's moving to the middle of our three small bedrooms. Unfortunately, that room hasn't had a ceiling fan that's worked since we moved in. Thanks to my Dad (and Nathan, on a steep learning curve), the room now has a beautiful ceiling fan that should keep Lorelai cool at night.
At least, after all these wonderful gifts, I was able to take Mom and Dad out to lunch on their last full day here:
Believe it or not, I was trying to go easier on my parents this time. They aren't as young as they used to be; my mom is constantly battling one illness or another, and on top of that she has to do more care taking for my dad, who was diagnosed a few years ago with Parkinson's disease. He doesn't like to admit it, but Parkinson's has slowed my dad down quite a bit; he doesn't have the stamina he used to have, and he often dozes off suddenly during the day. His mind wanders a bit more than it used to.
But one thing hasn't changed; his desire to be useful and helpful, no matter what. Every time my dad comes to visit, he offers to help us with projects around the house, no matter how he's personally feeling. It's something he's gotten very good at over the years, and it's one of the ways he shows us he loves us. For this trip, I purposefully tried to pick tasks that weren't so...well, tasking for him to do. But I have the feeling that I could have asked him to climb up on our roof and hack off half of our mesquite tree, and he would have done so happily. I admire my dad's endless desire to do good and provide help.
I love both of my parents so much. I am always glad to see them, and always sad to see them go. Their flight was early in the morning, so they had to leave quickly. They left behind three wailing little girls; they are always so sad when Grandma and Grandpa leave, and their tears were heartbreaking. But our time together was not wasted. The girls, Nathan and I all have a lot of pleasant memories to carry with us until the next time we see one another (hopefully this Thanksgiving, if we can arrange it! We want to show the girls Colorado in winter).
Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad. I am truly fortunate to have you as my parents. Love you both!
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