April 26
In which Easter's a little bit Magic Bob.
We celebrated the season by springing ourselves outta Massachussets. For Owen and me, that meant cashing in some unused plane tickets and heading west to Kansas City. It was little more than a long weekend, but we had a great time staying with Grandma Pat, coloring Easter eggs with all of the grandparents, getting treats from the Easter Bunny, hunting for eggs with the cousins and visiting the legendary Magic Bob.
Magic Bob not only wields the uncanny ability to create swords from balloons, but he can also mysteriously pull your four of clubs from behind Grandma Gloria's ear. Between Bob and the Bunny, Owen has no trouble accepting miracles.
Sadly, Mom couldn't join us. Robin's godsister, Eva, died unexpectedly that same week. She and her parents made the journey to California to say their farewells and that was that for her vacation time.
Discussion of funerals prompted a whole new education for Owen. He woke up sobbing one night because he didn't want to die. Later he grilled Robin about the proceedings:
"Did Eva go to Heaven?"
"Yes."
"Is Heaven beautiful?"
"I think so."
"Did the angels take her to Heaven?"
"Yes."
"At the funeral? You saw them do it?"
Still, we managed to put the grimmer aspects aside and enjoy the holiday. Owen even managed to join his cousins for a rendition of the bunny-hop which was filmed and e-mailed to eldest cousin, Joey, who is away at college.
(Joey's parents must be extremely old to have a child in college. Robin and I are only old enough to have a 4-year old.)
The fun didn't end with our departure from Kansas City. Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Bob followed us east just a few days later to enjoy Spring Celebration at Owen's school and to help out with baby-sitting during the break that followed.
Spring Celebration is the school's annual musical and, once again, the children sang for an entire hour. I don't know what witchcraft they use to keep those kids focused for that long, but I want it. (You'll notice, of course, that it only works marginally on Owen who is the one child waving frantically at his family.)
The program culminated with a rendition of "It's a Grand Ol' Flag" complete with the unveiling of flags the children had made in class. It was about the perfect song for Owen's grandparents who are very patriotic.
If you've noted that Owen seems to be wearing the same clothes at Easter that he is wearing at Spring Celebration, you are correct. We only have one set of nice things. Thank you, New Economy. (Owen's parents are slightly more leftist than his grandparents....)
We were able to spring for a fresh haircut, however. Owen was delighted with his looks.
"I'm fan-some," he told me.
"You're a phantom?"
"NO! I'm FAN-SOME! Fancy and handsome!"
The Celebration did have one dark cloud. We found out Grandma Pat went into the hospital shortly after Owen and I departed. We waited with bated breath for test results and were thrilled to hear she only had pneumonia.
And, now that she's home, we laugh that "only having pneumonia" is good news for us!
Back on the east coast, we didn't have lots of time for sight-seeing, but we did manage one quick visit to the town of Newburyport. It's a quaint shopping village about 45 minutes northeast of Boston. Robin and her mother now own a substantial portion of it.
If any of you would like to come visit us, we'll take you there.
It's magical.
