three little miracles

Little Miracle Number One

Thanks to Aaron who will not be forgiven I am now a "Skyping Grandmother." A friend of mine is married to a man who thankfully works at an electronics recycling plant and he managed to get me a pretty nifty swifty laptop with a built in camera and microphone for mere pennies which I promptly named Skype-uter. Where I go, it goes and Skype is always open. For the most part Tara and I tend to "type chat" rather than video chat but if the girls are available, their mom will hit the video chat button so that we can visit face to face. This past Monday was no exception - other than the fact that it was the Monday following New Years Day, my day for "taking down Christmas" and putting it away for another year. I'm busy. Really busy. Half an hour into my really busy I heard the Skype phone ring. I ran into the kitchen, answered it, and it was Claudia. I assumed one of her parents dialed me in for her. We chatted for about 15 minutes at which point I told her that I was busy taking down the Christmas decorations and tree and needed to go. Seven minutes worth of "love you miss you" later we disconnect. I left the kitchen and immediately heard the Skype phone ring again. Back into the kitchen, it's Claudia again. Another 15 minutes, another 7 minutes and we hang up again. Three steps into the dining room and yeah you guessed it, it rang again.

"Sweetheart .... why does mommy keep ringing me?"

"She isn't."

"Daddy?"

"No."

"Where are your parents?"

"In the kitchen."

"Um. How are you doing this?"

"Oh, I just kept clicking the buttons until I saw you on the computer. You're the button that looks like a phone!!"

She's four.


Little Miracle Number Two

Before the girls moved to Germany, Jay came up with a brilliant idea that involved taking the girls to Build A Bear and having them build two bears, one being a "grandma bear" and the other a "papa bear." His logic was that the bears would represent us while they were away and could comfort them if they were scared, lonely or just plain missed us. We told their parents to go away for a few hours and up to Build A Bear we went with Claudia and Eloise to make a couple of bears. And it worked. Too well in fact. Eloise fell in love with her Papa Bear and took that thing everywhere. We could write a book on the adventures that bear went on. In the first two months that they were in Germany, Papa Bear was lost 3 times - one of those times being left behind on their trip to Copenhagen. Amazingly enough, he was found and returned. He came back to Canada when they came here in December - with a severe back injury. Luckily, grandma had a needle and thread handy and was able to perform a successful operation on him. Two days later Eloise threw up all over him. Another exciting adventure awaited him, this time in a washing machine and dryer.  And then they returned to Germany. A week later and our worst nightmare happened. Papa Bear was lost - this time for good. Aaron called everywhere they'd been, he retraced their steps, all to no avail. Naturally we were told and I told Tara that we'd go back up to Build A Bear and replace Papa Bear and just tell Ellie that somehow he found his way to our house. Good story right? Too bad for us that the bear Ellie chose was a limited edition bear, never to grace the walls of Build A Bear again. And right about then was when my long standing love affair with Google reached its apex. We rushed home, I booted up the Skype-uter and damned if I didn't find that goddamn limited edition bear on Ebay. Problem was ....

I did not have an Ebay account.
(But I do now)

I did not have a Paypal account.
(But I do now)

I did not own a credit card.
(But I do now)

Papa Bear anxiously awaiting his little girl

Little Miracle Number Three

Last summer, Tara and I went up to a local garden center and among other things, I picked up 3 hyacinth plants. I brought them home, put them on my front porch - still in their pots - and in due time, they flowered, bloomed and died. I left the three small pots of now nothing but dirt on my porch and as fall arrived, I forgot all about them. A day or two before the end of November I happened home and while walking up the sidewalk to the house, I noticed a small flash of green underneath a small table we have on the porch. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be one of the three pots of now long abandoned hyacinth plants - and it was sprouting. Outside. In November. In Canada. Down on my knees I went in search of the other two. I found them, brought all three in, watered them, sat them in the living room bay window and waited. Hyacinths represent rebirth and new beginnings.

Happy New Year