Ya Ya!

It's been one month since school started and I think we're getting the hang of things.  We've figured out how much time it takes to get ready in the morning, even with a child that isn't in a hurry to eat his breakfast.  We've factored in additional time for traffic and we have a route that seems to work best for the drive there.  Once we get on that morning drive, I've discovered I'm reminded of many childhood memories along the way.

We drive past my junior high school, which has been rebuilt to such an extent that I hardly recognize it.  On the way I see my best friend's childhood home, which has had so much remodeling it also doesn't look anything like I remember it.  And we drive by and through an apartment complex that looks almost identical to everything I remember from well over thirty years before.

The little entry sign for the Palms Apartments must have gone through multiple renovations, but it's always maintained the same general appearance.  The apartment buildings must have had new roofs put on them, new toilets put inside them and I'm sure they've had general updates all around, but the buildings are in the same places, have the same external appearance and just look reminiscent of apartments from decades ago.

I remember a story about these apartments from when I was so young that I don't remember the actual event.  I do, however, remember the re-telling of the event which happened many times as I grew up.  My mother was driving me to school—possibly the same school I'm driving my son to now, although I could have been older—and she discovered there was a relocated family from Sweden (I think) who needed transportation to get their little girl to school.

My mother offered to pick up this little girl, drive her to school and then return her at the end of the day.  The first day (so the story goes) my mother showed her the, "blast-off seat" in the back that she could sit on.  That blast-off seat was the arm rest between the back two seats.  This was pre-car seat days.  The blast-off seat was a popular place for kids to sit.  That seat helped to calm a child more than anything else because it was special.

So this little girl gets in the car and is scared.  She goes to school and doesn't speak much (if any) English but she makes it through the day.  We're driving back to her apartments and when we round the corner, she recognizes the only thing she knows that connects her with her family and starts yelling, "YA YA!"

It was a sweet reunion for her and her mother, I'm sure.  That little girl probably has children of her own now, but I still think of her and other memories of times spent at the Palms Apartments when I drive by each day.

The Big Boy Update:  Singing ABC.  He's just beginning to get the gist of singing.  We sang the ABC song on the way to school this morning.  He doesn't make it past the first set of letters and he's not in time or in tune, but he's trying to sing at the same time you are, which is something he didn't understand just a few weeks ago.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Mimi went to Kindermusik with my daughter today.  They both had a good time singing and bouncing and shaking rattles and bells together.  There were bubbles and happy babies and a very enthusiastic teacher that makes every baby beam with excitement.   She is now napping as Kindermusik can be tiring.  Who?  Ah, both Mimi and the baby.  Didn't I mention Kindermusik is tiring to the adults too?  After forty-five minutes of lifting the baby, dancing with the baby, marching with the baby, swooping with the baby and zooming with the baby, we adults need a nap, more than the babies.

Fitness Update:  Dirty Rotten Trick.  Uncle Jonathan ran with my neighbor and me this morning at six o'oclock.  I tricked him and didn't set my phone app on interval training.  So... no voice telling us we get to walk for a minute after ten minutes of running.  How did he do after he realized he'd been tricked?  Four miles of running is how he did!

Someone Once Said:   There’s no virtue in being old, it just takes a long time.