1m2aSandbox

A couple nights ago Cora’s cat opened her door (yes, all by herself) and ran free through the house. Around 3 a.m. we heard the sound of glass shattering, bolted out of bed, and ran down the stairs.

To find a crystal vase filled with roses had been knocked off a table, and there were crystal shards. Everywhere.

Brian and I spent a grueling forty-five minutes painstakingly cleaning up all the shards from the blast radius. I hovered over the floor, barely skimming it with my hand to pick up every sliver, every shard, making sure the floor was clean enough to perform surgery on by the time I was done.

Yesterday afternoon I picked the girls up from school, then rushed to get Maddie ready for ballet and an appointment afterwards. I ran out of the door with Maddie in tow just a half an hour after the girls had gotten home from school, with only a quick kiss in Cora’s direction as she settled in for an afternoon with Grandma.

By the time I got home a few hours later, Cora had done her homework and eaten dinner and I felt like I’d just missed the whole afternoon with her. So I scarfed down a quick bite and said, “Hey, Cora, want to go for a bike ride?”

A smile split her face and she screamed, “Yeah! Just you and me!”

Well, I thought we were finished with saying goodbyes this year, but apparently the year’s not over yet.

At least this time, it’s not a person, but a place.

One of the reasons we bought our house was its close proximity to a neighborhood park – two short blocks. I spent nearly every day those first few years walking those two blocks at least once a day. Cora learned how to, well, everything on that playground, and for the past five years it’s been the girls’ go-to spot. As they’ve gotten older we’ve gone from me scampering over the equipment with the girls, to a posse of kids running wild together as parents sit on the sidelines. Just a few weeks ago we met up there for one last hangout with a friend who was moving, and Maddie and her friends sequestered themselves in a secluded spot to giggle and sing away from the ‘rents. When Maddie was in school and Cora was still home, Cora and I would walk over there nearly every day after dropping Maddie off, and play on it, just the two of us. Cora would beg Daddy to head to the playground on the weekend, and they’d go crazy for a couple hours at a time.