Brigid's Baby

I haven’t taken the time to write about our travels up north a couple weeks ago, and for that I’m sorry. We really had a wonderful time seeing everyone, and now that I’ve thawed out from the -20 temperatures, I admit we even enjoyed the weather! No, I’m not making that up. It toughens up the ol’ soul! It gives us an excuse to break out the 10 year old sweaters that are now stuffed into the back corners of our closets.

On the first full day after our arrival, I decided to take Brigid down the hill with me into “town” and visit with dad. Aidan and Paul were napping, and having only one kid (the QUIET one) with me would leave more time for conversation! When the two kids are together, there tends to be explosive activity, but when they are separated they tend to behave. It’s boring just hanging with with us grown-ups.

In Brigid’s 5 years, I realized she had never actually been to dad’s house, at least not since she was a baby! We moved to AZ when she was 8 months old, and when we visit, we tend to be in a flurry of visits – to mom’s, Craig’s, Grace’s and other aunts and uncles in the area. Dad has always volunteered to travel to wherever we were and come see us up at the house, so we never stopped by his place! He’s smart and knows his place isn’t childproofed and is full of neat nick-nacks 3 & 5 year olds could destroy in a mili-second…

However, as most of you know, dad is not as mobile right now. He is fighting cancer with chemo and radiation, which I haven’t written much about, mostly to protect dear dad’s privacy. See, even my blabber-fingers have their boundaries! I am happy to report that he’s doing quite well and has the “incurable” cancer slowed down for now. Take THAT cancer! But the treatments leave him pretty weak and tired and not wanting to chase us around the city for now!

The best part about “Dad’s House” is it’s the house where I grew up! We moved there when I was just 3 years old (Aidan’s age!). Brigid was in seventh heaven when she found out she could plan in my old bedroom! It’s not quite the same as it was 20+ years ago, but my bed and desk are still there, as well as some trinkets that I never took with me when I moved out, yet didn’t want to throw away. Ah yes, the infamous holding pattern of clutter, yet perfect for a 5 year old to explore!

Right on my desk Brigid discovered my old friend and nemesis, RakuRaku Dinokun! I bought this virtual-pet game in 1997 when they were all the rage. I borrowed this picture from this website I love the fact that someone actually took the time to dedicate an entire webpage to her virtual pet! In fact, if you explore the website, she has many MANY pages dedicated to her entire collection of virtual pets. Nothing OCD about that.

I bought my little Dinukun while I was teaching English in Taiwan, so I feel greater affection towards is than if it were just some dumb old trendy techno gadget made in Taiwan… because I actually bought it there… I guess. Brigid, on the other hand, has treated the archaic, black-and-white, LCD-display low-functioning game like she has found the GREATEST! gadget on the planet EARTH! She loving showed it to Paul and exclaimed “This was Mommy’s toy when she was a little girl!” He glanced over at me sideways and murmured “You mean, like, when you were 24?”

It’s a shame those who are not in touch with their inner-child become so jealous of those of us who are…

Brigid loves her new/old little ‘baby” and takes excellent care of him… but there’s a slight problem. She goes to Kindergarten during the day, so somebody needs to baby sit it. That’s right! 10 years after unloading the stupid needy gadget that BEEP! BEEP!’s all day for food, water and attention that I have to click or it dies, I’m stuck keeping it alive all day at work! I seem to remember there was a huge controversy around these toys when they first came out because they were traumatizing to little children when their beloved pets “died”. Right. And there’s no irony in the fact I have my kids in daycare, but I spend my day attending to a virtual pet.

As if I don’t have enough crap to keep me busy all day…