Homecoming

7 June, Almost 8 June (Late Night)

Dear Family,

Well, of all the strange things I am sitting up late tonight waiting for my bread to rise enough to be baked. I’m not sure why I am doing this right now. Last night was my second 2 a.m. awakening from a barfing child in a week. I should be in bed, but my mind needs a release.

Saturday night as Josh and I were sitting on the sofa recovering from the bedtime routine Mom called to tell us that my little brother, Alan, had showed up at home after six months of no contact. After the initial shock wore off, the tears of gratitude spilled down my cheeks. Alan is alive! All we had been able to pray for lately was just to know that Alan was ok, and there he was, a direct answer to prayer. We don’t know much about where he’s been or what he’s doing. No one wanted to pry or scare him off by asking too many questions.

I am now struggling to interpret this emotional flatness that I am experiencing. Perhaps it is just the geographic distance, or the fact that I haven’t seen him myself. I know I am relieved that he is ok. I think maybe I am just hesitant because I worry about how this will affect my parents. I have watched them wade through so much sorrow to finally come to a place where the ground seems more firm. I think I am aftraid of the unknown path ahead. Mom says she feels good and has slept well for the first time in six months, so I’ll have to take that as a good omen.

Of course, my emotional confusion could also have something to do with the craziness we’ve been experiencing around here. Jillian and Alex have both had a stomach flu this week. I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone who knows me well that 3 hours of sleep in a night is not enough for me to be a nice person. I am tired of sick. It seems we’ve had someone in this house sick every week for the last month. I must admit that I broke down and cried when I had to clean up barf again at 2 a.m. this morning. I hereby declare an end to sickness in the Felt house for at least 6 months!

So rather than weigh everyone down with more complaining, I am going to record the best kid stories of the last month, beginning with Ryan. Ryan has been having a little bit of a tough time adjusting to the end of preschool. He’s been spending a lot of time in time out, but he’s also been providing lots of solid comic relief. Alex came crawling into the family room complaining of some kind of ache in his leg when up pops Ryan off the couch, pushes Alex down on to the ottoman and announces, “You’ve come the the right place! Welcome to Dr. McRhino’s office. Please have a seat right here on the table and I’ll take care of everything!”

I’ve had a rotten cold and sinus infection that kept me down for a good two weeks in the middle of May. On one of the worst days, when I felt I was just dragging from place to place, I was trying to feed Ryan and Jill. Just as I went to pick up Jillian’s tray, I knocked it against the edge of the counter and Cheerios and bowls and spoons and canned pears and cottage cheese went flying everywhere. In frustration I burst out, “Ahhh…why is everything I touch today turning to sh…” I had gotten the first sound out when I looked up and saw Ryan eyeing me from the counter. I stopped mid-word so as not to offend his little ears and he raised his eyebrows and said slyly, “Galactic crud, Mom?” Yes, Ryan, galactic crud! You’ve got to love Star Wars fans.

Jillian has now entered the fascinating world of pretend play. One day in May I went to get her up and said, “Good morning Jilly!” She looked up and very nonchalantly said, “I’m Alison!” I had to call her Alison all morning or she wouldn’t respond. Now she’ll come up to me and say, “I’m Alison, let’s dance.” Or “I’m Alison, read me Gossie and Gertie?” Needless to say, Jillian is sooooo excited to be having a sleep over with her Aunt Alison while Mom and Dad go up to girls’ camp this week.

Jillian also loves her Uncle Ken, but in a different way. Every time we read her favorite animal book, she points out each animal and says its name. When we come to the page with the big, silverback gorilla she always points, giggles and says, “Uncle Kenny!”

Alex has now finished the third grade. He’s had a wonderful time and a great teacher who we are thrilled to note will be staying on next year and looping with Alex’s class. We’re excited to have her again for 4th grade. Toward the end of the school year however, she called me to tell me that she was having a terrible time getting Alex motivated to learn his times tables. He needed to pass them off in order for her to advance him to 4th grade. So she had resorted to the ultimate Alex-threat: she was going to keep him in at recess if he couldn’t pass off one number from 5 through 9 each day for the next week. Well, that’s all it took. He came home and we drilled and drilled and drilled. The next day, he passed off his times tables with time to spare. Mrs. Fatka took one look at his test and “fainted” dead away. Alex was giggling when he got in the car to tell me what had happened.

Alex’s class also had a big field trip planned before school got out. They were heading to Tucson to see Kartchner caverns. He was so excited and nervous that I would forget something. He kept reading me the list of what needed to be prepared and fretting about whether I would get everything ready. The night before the field trip, I didn’t pack up his lunch until after he’d gone to bed. The next morning I heard the clatter of silverware and cupboards at 5:40 in the morning. Alex was in the kitchen, showered, fully dressed, teeth brushed, shoes on—making himself a peanut butter and jam sandwich. I gently showed him the lunch I had already packed, told him eat his PBJ for breakfast, then sit on the sofa and read and wake me up in 45 minutes.

Well, obviously I am having trouble collecting my thoughts, but the bread is baked and I am going to bed. If Ryan gets up at 2 to throw up, I am afraid he’s on his own!

Love to all—
Cheryl