Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Saturday, August 09, 2008 1:00 PM
My husband and I grew up in the same hometown, about ninety miles from where we live now, and both sets of our parents still live there. Consequently we visit often - we’re here this weekend, actually - and every time we’re here I am reminded how relaxing it can be to visit relatives.
When Camilla was an infant she was quite fussy, and we were in our hometown quite a bit during her early months for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It was stressful to travel with tiny Milla - all that screaming in the car seat! - but it was always worth it, because when we got here, our family members would hold Camilla and play with her and we got small breaks from what was, otherwise, the 24-hour-a-day task of keeping Her Royal Fussiness happy. Of course whoever had the baby would soon enough appear around a corner with her fussing for her mama, but I at least got breaks long enough so I could sit down and drink a cup of tea, which in those days was a huge luxury.
As Milla got older and didn’t need as much constant contact with her parents, the situation while visiting got better and better. These days we walk in the door of my parents’ house and one of my siblings whisks Camilla off to play, and I may not see her - or have to tend to any of her needs, which is the vital thing - for hours at a time. They read to her and take her on walks and keep her happy as a little clam, and I get to sit and relax and even write whole blog posts without interruption. Camilla is pampered more here than at home, for sure: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into my parents’ kitchen to find a crowd of people bustling around getting food for themselves while my daughter stands blissfully on a chair at the kitchen table eating Doritos with cheez-coated fingers. She always looks up at me happily as if to say, “Hi Mama. Isn’t this the life?”
It is, Camilla. It is.
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SO true! What a blessing to have extended family that you see often. That’s a gift you only appreciate more and more as Camilla grows and your family does too.
Agreed Arwen! I live close to my sister who is a mom of six and I love those opportunities to whisk away the little ones and guarantee my “favorite Aunt” status.
You are so blessed! My in-laws passed have both passed on in the last 3 years, and my own parents really can’t be bothered too much with my younger children. They were never very interested in any of them except the first who will be 20 this month, and even with him, I could never have expected to find him with a plate of food or doritoes....
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