A SUNDAY TOGETHER
The girls spent the night last night. The first time since last October when their father and stepmother left for Germany for a week and had them fend for themselves. This time they seemed to be out of town once again, though only for one night.
Cinnamon texted me late Friday night to ask whether I could pick her up from her team’s dance competition in Buda. The awards ceremony would end around 22,30 and it would take me close to an hour to drive there. Though I was feeling ill, I agreed as I thought I would be able to make the drive. I was wrong and tried first to ask her dance teacher to drive her back since she lives in the building next to mine. She politely declined, stating that teachers are not allowed to drive back students. I wondered what would happen in the case I had a life-threatening emergency. Would she still refuse? She did, however, agree to finding someone else. I never heard back from her.
In the meantime, I wondered how my daughter would return to Austin. I contacted Saffron, who was at home, and told her I was ill and that her sister would have to find a ride home. Saffron was able to get a hold of Cinnamon to let her know she needed to start looking for a ride. After a while, I heard back from Cinnamon who let me know her teammate’s mother was willing to drive her back but would only be able to drop her off at a Starbucks close to their house which was about 20 minutes from my place.
It was nearly midnight when she finally arrived. I drove her to her father’s house as she got on FaceTime with her sister to find out whether or not they would be staying at my place. The original plan was that they would come to our place for an afternoon on the weekend after Valentine’s Day for chocolate cake and presents. Plans changed and I was glad that we were able to spend longer than a few hours together as the girls decided to come over.
Sage was already asleep on the living room floor as he preferred that to the sofa. The girls would be sleeping in the living room as well since I was still in the process of setting up the room that used to be the girls’ room for Sage. I ordered his gaming desk earlier this week and his new monitor was in there but the bedding was still in the wash as I had not expected the girls to spend the night. After a bit of a struggle to get the girls situated on the large sofa, and a late-night meal of Mexican chili casserole for Cinnamon, it was time to get some sleep.
The following morning, I awoke early and set about to make vanilla bean scones for our special Sunday breakfast. Saffron’s favourite. This time I made it with a glaze topping. It was 10,00 by the time we all sat down at the table. After breakfast, we exchanged our Valentine’s gifts. I did not expect that the girls got us anything but was quite surprised at the thoughtfulness that went into the things they got us. Sage got a bottle of his favourite Asian fizzy softdrink from World Market, some sour candies, and a few Minibrands - to include the Rubik’s cube that Saffron gave him from her own collection. I got a bag of fancy ground coffee, a pink coffee mug with a heart-shaped handle, a necklace with pressed flowers, and a beautiful red handmade ceramic heart piece that Cinnamon made in art class. I got the children an assortment of their favourite European chocolates.
As they retreated to sofa and turned to their devices, I set about to make the chocolate pillow cake I promised them. I also made pizza dough and asked the girls if they wanted to help knead it, but it was too much work for them. Since the girls were being picked up at 14,00, they would miss out on the pizza and were too full from breakfast to eat an early lunch.
In the meantime, Sage went online and checked my Amazon account to see when his gaming desk would arrive. The original ship date was between the 24th and 28th, so we were both surprised when the message on the order page stated the desk was already delivered at our front door. Sage then ran to the door and was overjoyed as he dragged the heavy box inside. The setup would have to wait until he moved out the temporary desk from his room.
We then sat down at the table once more and enjoyed our early afternoon eating cake with freshly whipped cream and strawberries. A Sunday together with all three of my children reminded me of times before but it changes as they get older. Yet, I wish to continue our Sunday traditions as the years pass and imagine them coming over with their own children one day as we sit around and wish each other a ‘Happy Sunday’.
