Ukraine Adoption

Crazy busy

It's been a crazy busy time of year for us, at work, school and home. So much to do. I can feel the stress affecting all of us at home, the time crunches, the rushing from here to there. I find a lot of comfort talking with my friends and relatives who swear that their houses are just as topsy-turvy these days; jackets on the floor, dirty clothes mixed with clean in the baskets (admit it), toys scattered about.

Tara is a collector. She has little lumps of items all over the house; shoes from a doll, a set of keys, a broken Barbie brush. Sometimes I toss things out and hope she won't notice. She always notices. She asks for things constantly. I keep thinking she will forget about these discarded items, but she asks for several days. "Have you seen my (broken) stroller?" I am too cowardly to admit that I threw it away, so I play dumb. And then as the days go on, and she keeps asking, it is too late for me to go back and admit it.

I was telling my friend about this today and it reminded me of a situation when I was little. My sister and I realized our cat Sandy was missing, and we were very upset. He was getting older, but he seemed fine to us. So every night, we called out the front door, "SAAAAANNNNDDDYYYY." We made posters. Day after day, week after week, we called for that cat.

Many years later, when I was in my 20s, my parents admitted that my Dad took Sandy to the old "farm." My Dad told me, "I thought you girls would forget about that cat after a few days, but for weeks you were looking for it!" Apparently, then, it was too late to tell us about his deed. Ah, history repeats itself. OK, so it's a stroller that Tara is missing, but I don't know what I'll do if she starts putting up posters for it.