What happens when Dorothy and Alice grow up?
Toto, I don't think we're on vacation anymore...The alarm now rings at 6:00am. (not that I haven't been lying awake since 4:45 listening to the bilal sing morning prayers) The kids and I are downstairs in the hotel restaurant by 6:35 and they catch the bus by 7:10. I usually try to sneak a few items off the buffet for the kid's lunches. Ian enjoys foiling the heist by yelling "Swiper, No Swiping!" an allusion to
Dora the Explorer that one little Saudi boy at the next table recognized and appreciated. (See, children's cartoons can improve world relations, move over Condoleezza Rice
.) After the kids leave to catch the bus, I ride the elevator up to room 815 and pick up Brian for breakfast. We're downstairs by 7:15 amidst the quiet giggling of the wait staff, who enjoy asking if I require a new table? I indulge in the chocolate croissant I was eyeballing but avoiding during the first meal, as not to desecrate Emma's diet. By 7:45 Brian heads out the ornate lobby doors, ably held by two uniformed valets. If I'm really disciplined I push #5 on the elevator display and go straight to the treadmill, if not ... let's just take a moment to quietly thank the guy who invented black out curtains...
While our workweek morning routine has changed for all of us...Emma's has undergone the most radical differences. She has entered a new phase of her life, one in which she is challenging herself academically. Last year she had enormous success in school. Her course load was not demanding but she managed to keep both feet on the ground and her head in the air, a fete that most fifteen year olds never accomplish. She was accepted in both the Thespian (that's
TH not
L for you rednecks) and the Latin Honorarium. She received an academic letter and joined the field hockey team. She landed a speaking role in the fall play and had a solo on her double bass during the spring musical. Granville truly was a
wonderland for Alice, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities it bestowed on my first born. With only one confidence building year behind her its time for her to fly the nest. No more - mom's classroom for lunch -- running by for some forgotten note cards --- or a reassuring hug when the popular girls snub her.
Can she make it? I know she can, but sadly I would like to have indulged my selfish notion that she needs me for just a little longer.
It's strange how sometimes I look back at my life as a mother and realize that the WORK was the vacation. But luckily I still have Ian...
THE VACATION HAS BEEN EXTENDED!
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