Goodbyes are hard
Patience wakes that morning to learn that one of her teachers is leaving the studio to focus on her grad degree in occupational therapy... tears, cuddles... she's somewhat cheered by the idea of shopping for goodbye gifts...
Patience's blueness doesn't stop her from fighting hard with Yali during math class however... as they shove each other back and forth to see who can get the most table space... “Out of my way, HAPPY MEAL!” // “You shut up!” // **Yali begins whacking Patience over the head with a Costco savings booklet** // “You're the worst broooootheeeer EVER!”...
Five minutes prior to this moment they were happily sharing the awakening of Yali's spring toads in the aquarium tank... holding them gently with butcher's gloves while sitting together on the living room floor... but, you know... siblings...
Late morning Patience and I skip across townships to the Town & Country Target for those teacher goodbye gifts... Patience packs a basket of goodies and gift cards all in varying shades of raspberry, fully enjoying the process of selecting each item...
The afternoon rolls along quickly as I book Puck's skydiving session for Easter weekend and advise Patience on her carefully hand-written and illustrated goodbye card...
Meanwhile Yali is requesting tiny skeleton face prints which he cuts with great detail and gorilla glues to modified minifigs...
While I transition to teaching Patience how to make enchiladas (which she prepares entirely herself)... “Gordon Ramsay, here I come!” she says to herself as her little hands carefully chop grilled chicken...
...and Puck walks out for a snack... apparently it's uncooked pasta – yes, uncooked pasta (a treat “trick” one of his aunts taught him when he was a tot)... “You're weird” Patience tells him... he grins and tosses several pieces of macaroni at her before returning to his room to cuddle his cat...
While Oxbear is out for a coffee meet-and-greet... drive Puck to work for another four-hour shift...
Then while I'm in the basement printing schedules... Yali can be heard walking around upstairs with a Buzz and a Woody yelling out dialogue between them... “AAAHH AAAAHH! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING? AAAAAAAGH!...”
Driving further towards the city in an approaching thunderstorm about an hour later... listening to compositions of Ralph Vaughan Williams' good friend George Butterworth sniped by a German in WWI...
Spritz of rain translates to heavy rain and cracking lightning as Patience runs indoors with the gift basket for her teacher... ninety minutes later she returns flooded with tears from the sob circle in the studio... “She'll be back on Tuesday to see us though” Patience sniffs into my shoulder...