I Have to Sleep Here & My Parents Deserve a Medal
Our 19 year old daughter is checking in at Disney World for her internship as I type. I’m so grateful our parents drove her down and will stay at Disney for a week, but I so wish I was there with her. Helping her get settled and seeing her embark on her first grown-up adventure. Even though she’s in college, she has been living at home, so this is big, for all of us. I want her to have a blast, meet lots of new friends and do things she’s never done. I wonder how much she will have changed when we see her again in May. Will she be more self-confident, more mature? She will turn 20 on Valentine’s Day and we will be out of the teen years. So now we’ve had 2 daughter’s that have done the Disney program and a third that already is planning her Disney adventure when she starts college. She’s only 10 so I have a few years before I need to worry about that. We have one leaving the teens and another just starting. I won’t be free from the eyerolls and dramatic sighs for a long time.
Since our parents drove her down there, I’m taking care of Mari. Mari is a mentally handicapped woman who lives with our parents. So my days consist of repeating myself over and over and over.
Mari: They went to Florida
Me: Yes, they went to Florida
Mari: DD’s going to work at Disney World
Me: Yes, DD’s going to work at Disney World
Mari: I have to sleep here.
Me: Yes, you have to sleep here.
Mari: They’re sleeping in a hotel
Me: Yes, they’re sleeping in a hotel
Mari: The kids have school today
Me: Yes, the kids have school today
You get the idea. This is what we do every single day, several times a day. Our parents deserve a medal. You see, Mari isn’t related to any of us in any way. She came to live with my grandparents years ago when she was a little girl. Our grandparents used to take in foster children and she is a foster child that stayed. When she was 14 the state said she could go and live in an institution. This was in the 60’s I believe, and we’ve all heard horror stories about what those places were like. Our grandparents refused that wonderful offer to take her away from the only family and home she really ever knew. She lived with them right up until 1997 when our grandparents and Mari moved in with our parents. Our grandparents have since passed away and our parents are Mari’s legal guardians. She’s around 60 now and the freaky thing is she doesn’t have any gray hair or any wrinkles. It’s almost like a Twilight Zone episode about a person who never ages.
This year is a big year for our parents. Our Dad will turn 80 on Valentine’s Day.. that’s right. DD and Dad share a Valentine’s Day birthday. This will be one of the only years they haven’t celebrated their birthdays together. Also, they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in May. Instead of having some huge anniversary bash, they will be here at our house, while we go to Disney World to get DD and they will be taking care of our dogs. So I hope they have a great time down in Disney and enjoy their time alone, because I’ll be so ready for them to get back. I’ve got just under 2 weeks before they return. Not that I’m counting down the days or anything like that.
