There is sadness in the house. True, heart wrenching sadness. The boy is sad because he must, once again, do homework and now he must write five sentences in his reading response journal instead of the first semester’s three sentences. The husband is sad because he built a beautiful outdoor rink but it hasn’t been cold enough to freeze properly, so we have a slushy mess in the backyard (and we won’t mention how he’s sad because he didn’t calculate the slope correctly, so the ice rink slants to a sad end). I am sad because it’s not Miami Beach and while I can handle a good winter, this is really a mediocre winter. By the time we returned, all the snow from the big blizzard had melted and last night’s big snow brought a mere dusting. Hardly warrants the homemade marshmallows in hot chocolate (I said “hardly!”).
But the saddest person of all? The littlest Medros. She is oh-so sad. Life for a five year old can be so difficult. Her heart weeps. She’s been moping about how sad she is and her heart is sad and she is sad and everything is so sad.
Me: I can understand. It’s hard coming back from vacation.
Pie: That’s not it.
Me: Is it going to back to school? It’s hard to get dressed in the morning after a week of lounging about.
Pie: No, that’s not it.
Me: Oh, you miss Nana and Peter? And playing with T Rex and Pad and Elf Girl? We had fun with them.
Pie: Yeah, but that’s not why I’m sad.
Me: Then what is it, baby girl?
Pie, lip a quiverin’: It’s… It’s… It’s because there are only two more episodes of Hannah Montana left, and I didn’t watch from the beginning so think of all the Hannah Montana I missed!
Me: Uh…
Pie: That and I want a pair of Uggs.
She’s a keeper, folks!
*Yes, I know, inflation. No more pay phones. Yadda yadda. But my 10th grade science teacher used to always say, “Too bad, so sad. Got a dime? Call someone who cares,” and it stuck with me.
