I Just Don't Know.....

I had a wonderful day yesterday afternoon.

Pammie called and told me I could come over to Jen's to see Evan's fish--as his mother had told him when I was there. visiting with Chris, the first of the month.

Evan will be 4 on Monday.  Yesterday was Jen and Eric's 15 wedding anniversary so they were away on a whole day trip of some kind.

I got my hair cut and stopped at Dollar General to pick up some toys Pam had suggested I get for Evan's birthday.  I have never been in a Dollar store.  I figured it was all a lie--that some stuff would be a dollar, but the rest wouldn't.

Well in this store, everything was a dollar!!!!!!!  I got him 5 toys and a Diet Pepsi = $6.00!  Amazing.

Then I drove on over to Jen's and parked at the end of their street so I could pick up Elise and Alex when they got off the school bus.  They have to walk a couple of blocks.

They seemed glad to see me and on the way uo to their house, we chatted about school and their new back packs and all good things.

When I walked into the house, Evan squealed and ran to Pammie.  I heard the oldest Andrew yell, "Dad?"

Pammie said, "No, it's gramma Judy."

Andrew came bounding up the stairs from his bedroom in the basement and gave me big hug.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  This is not like Karen's family.  This is not a huggy family and I don't think Andrew has hugged me since he was eight years old.

Nearly 14, he is almost as tall as I am, has his hair cut a bit long and it is curly.  He looks the spitting image of his grandpa, my ex did at that age.  I almost swooned!

I asked him if he liked High School and if he was still taking Karate and playing Lacrosse.

"Yes, I'm still in Lacrosse.  No I gave up Karate for Lacrosse, but now, I am on the schools boxing team."

"What?  You are going to ruin your handsome face!"

He just giggled.

"Are you taking any advanced classes this year?"

"Yep.  Calculus, Trigonometry and Chemistry."
<yikes>

I walked into the kitchen and talked a bit with Pammie and Elise and Alex and then Evan finally came up and said, "Mimi Gramma Judy, come upstairs and you can see my fish."

So up the 19 steps we scampered.  Well, he scampered and I struggled.

He was waiting for me at the top.

"Now, show me which room is yours," I said, even though I knew.

So he gave me the tour of Alex room and then Elise and then his--which was used as the nursery for all the kids.

"Wow!  How many fish do you have?"

"I has free...I mean thu-er-eee."

"What kind of fish are they?"

"They aren't special--no.  They don't need special water.  We got them at the fair.  We had eight, but most of them died."

"What is that motor for.  The one with the tube on it?"

"Oh...that is to pump air bubbles into the water.  Fish need air...ah...ox-ee-jin, so they can breve."

He went running across the "bridge" that is open to the entry way below, and threw a toy into his parents bedroom.

Pammie must have heard his foot steps from down below because she came and looked up at us and said, "Evan, get out of your parents bedroom.  You know you aren't supposed to go in there.  Aunt Pammie isn't even allowed to go in there."

There I stood, in the doorway of this forbidden room, not wanting to step inside, but trying to find where he had thrown his toy.  They were having a "showing" today so I knew, we had to keep things picked up and clean.

"Can you go in there and get your toy.  It's under the bed and Gramma can't get down there to get it."

He ran and went sliding in on the wood floor.  Then he slid and wiggled under the bed.

Pam yelled again and I explained, "He is just getting his toy out from under the bed.  We'll be right down."

As soon as he came out, "Good job,"I said and then closed the door.

He slide down the stairs on his bottom and I limped down.

Pretty soon it was time for Pam to take Alex to Soccer practice, so I made my goodbyes.

I limped down the 15 steps to the basement, knocked on Andrew's open door and told him I was leaving.  He showed me his new computer.

"Wow, that is a beauty," I said.

"I built it myself," he said.

"Is it one of those super CAD ones--with all the power?"

He looked at me like I knew what I was talking about.

"Yeah.  It's got .........................bandwidth and...................mega hertz and...................."

I was completely lost.  

"Well, I gotta get going."

"Okay Gramma."

and I got another hug.

I floated back up those 15 steps.

As I was leaving, Pam said, "Evan and I might come over tomorrow during the showing.  Are you going to be home?"

"Yup.  Come on over."

"Okay.  If not tomorrow, for sure on his birthday Monday or Tuesday.  They have a showing both of those days. I'll call and let you know."

"Great!  I can't wait!"
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I got up early this morning and got the house cleaned up and vacuumed.  Found the box of toys Evan's siblings used to play with when I took care of them--which, at one time, was often.

I didn't know what time the showing was, but I was eager and waiting and...................anticipating--with expectations.

How many times have I told others with tenuous family relationships not to anticipate or expect a thing?

At 3:00 I called Pam and left a message on her voice mail.

She has not answered back and it's 9:00.

Now, I worry and wonder, what did I do wrong?
Did I say something wrong and the kids innocently told their parents what Gramma Judy said?
Did Evan tell his parents that I was in their bedroom?
Do they have nanny cams or security cameras that show me standing in their bedroom doorway?

I have been racking my brain all afternoon and I cannot come up with a thing except...I offered to help Elise pick up her room for "the showing tomorrow" and she said, "we aren't having one tomorrow."  Perhaps her parents hadn't told her and I let it out?

Now--I'm worried that Pam won't be able to bring Evan over first of next week and I will be back at square one of 3 years ago.  

The evil, bad, Gramma.

I almost hate going over to their house.  There are "egg shells" covering every floor and it makes me nervous trying not to step on them!!!
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Well at least, I got to see all of them yesterday and that was a good thing.