March 22nd, 2025
“Only in this house” will you be woken by your husband at 6:45 on a Saturday morning for him to enthusiastically read to you the documents of “pastoral care” from the Lutheran church... then he leaves to go shooting all day with a couple of buddies down south...
A few minutes later Yali joins me on the king-sized... Patience hops back there a minute later too... **flick**... “Hey, Patience! I used that hair tie thingy as a ring toss and tossed it on Mom's nose and I got it the first time!” … there is no more sleeping that morning...
It's pretty steady running – or driving – for the rest of the day... Patience to the studio and then Yali out to St. Peters to spend the day with Nana because he'd be a little beyond bored following Patience around with her friends that afternoon...
Puck is already calling about meals for the day before he leaves for an early afternoon shift at work... but I don't have time to stop at Chick-fil-A because Patience and one of her buddies need a pick-up at the studio...
They've just finished their two-hour class as I walk up to the door with a Target bag of Patience's costume pieces for a one-thirty performance down the highway...
After they switch out wardrobes... they sit in the Toyota with snacks and a viewing of the 25th anniversary edition of “Riverdance” to fill up a little time before we're due at the next performance...
While I drive them north... their conversation flits from which kinds of fish they do or do not like, to their tolerance for spicy foods... “Oh, I love spice SO MUCH!” // “I LOVE spice SO much too!”... and how "A" thinks crocodile is tasty but octopus and mushrooms are disgusting...
This conversation concludes as we arrive at Brentmoor Retirement Community and take an elevator to the 12th floor... we're the first to arrive in a room that seems to be without A/C as I fix Patience's hair into a half-ponytail and then Patience “mothers” A's hair into another half-ponytail for performance number twelve of the season for the grateful residents filtering in for a two o'clock show...
There's no room for parents to watch, so everyone stays tucked in the back conference room where last week's tornadoes are discussed... including A's family watching one from their house in Florissant as it flowed down the street... their house and chickens also survived...
After the show... Patience and her two best friends are persistently eager to enjoy some kind of playdate after the final number so the three moms agree to Jilly's Cupcakes across the street... Paper cups of chocolate peppermint swirl and a bowl of shepherd's pot pie soup that gets passed around... they still seem kind of hungry afterwards but there are places to be, no matter how much begging to extend the playdate...
Back out to St. Peters where Yali has concluded a bike ride around the neighborhood and is sitting on the porch with his own bowl of ice cream...
And out to Ballwin – kids so happy to see each other after a few hours apart, they fight most of the way there – to pick up Oxbear from his buddy's house after a successful day of trap shooting...
Pick up a paper bag of Hi Pointe on the drive home for Mama... who still hasn't had a meal yet...
It's not much short of evening as everyone begins to gather again back home... at least briefly... Oxbear already snoozing on the couch by seven...
Puck is out of a six-hour shift... home long enough to change out of his work uniform shirt before driving out to O'Fallon to hang out with J... “Give me money for food” he grins... slipping on the Burger King visor he got from the secondhand store in Orlando... “I'm not an adult yet... I'm just an innocent minor...”
And Yali is calling me back to his bunk at bedtime to show me some sleight-of-hand...
And crash with Oxbear for an episode of “Northern Exposure” to try out something new...