I’ll be waiting when you’re ready to love me…

I’ll put my hands up.

—Adele from I’ll Be Waiting.

I’m sitting at the kitchen table of my daughter Erin’s house.  I just made a Scrabble move against her.  She’s sitting at the breakfast counter making Scrabble moves against me.  It’s not that we don’t talk, we’re just squeezing moves in between other internet duties.  Besides, there’s no room for the board game on the table because I’ve taken it over with maps, books and other things pertaining to our journey.  It’s now Tuesday afternoon, October 15.  We’re planning on heading back home on Thursday.

I look over at the picture window.  Elias has learned to pull himself up to a standing position and he is now looking out of the window.

Then something very strange happens.  But then, it’s the Pacific Northwest, and a great deal of strange things happen here.  Where else would the Seattle police hand out bags of Doritos during a “Hemp Fest” with a few friendly warnings printed on the bag, such as “Don’t give weed to minors to smoke”.  And, it’s okay to listen to the Dark Side of the Moon, but only at a moderate volume.  Is there another part of the country where I can read an article in the newspaper about a woman named “Dancer Flowergrowing”?

As I said something strange happened.  I began to hear Elias’ thoughts:

“Let’s see, I just had a snack of Mum-Mums.  I shook the rattle for a few minutes.  I held onto the dog’s tail until he walked away.  I crawled around the kitchen for a while.  I pulled myself on my mom’s pant leg.  I didn’t cry this time because I know I have only a little way to fall onto my bottom.  I’ll be having a bath soon.  There’s Grandpa on his laptop.  The Boston Red Sox game just ended.  I’m confused here; dad is a Red Sox fan, so is mommy, but she likes the Yankees too.  My grandpa is a Yankee fan like my step-grandmother.  The Seahawks are a football team here in Seattle and my dad likes them, but my Grandpa is a New York Giant fan…so is my step-grandmother.  There’s also a baseball team here called the Mariners, but nobody talks about them very much.”

“Sometimes I get confused.”

“But one thing I’m not confused about is that daddy is going to be getting home soon…any minute now.  When I see his car pull in, I jump and jerk around in my mom’s arms.  Daddy means I’ll have someone new to play with me.  And give me a bath and it may be daddy’s turn to tuck me in my little crib.”

“Then I’ll dream about what tomorrow will bring.”

Wow, that was interesting to hear his thoughts.  I don’t remember being that age.  But that’s just me.

I’m sure that all my friends remember being nine months old…like it was yesterday.