Shopping, filling in, mowing

Mama and the girls had a great time shopping. I think Mama was even able to get all her stops in; even with all the help. The stack of receipts she gave me was proof of that. They ate out twice in the excursion, went to Panera’s, Kroger’s, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, the bread store and Sam’s. Maybe a couple more places. I did not try to keep up with the agenda. I did not hear what time it was when Mama dropped the girls off, but I did hear that Cheyenne actually thanked Mama for taking them. That is unusual. I did not get much detail on the day since Mama and I did not have much time to talk last night. She did not seem too tired from the outing. I am certain the girls will be charged up to go with Mama the next time the offer is made.

Mama will have the girls all evening Friday as well. They have a dress rehearsal for ballet that night. Alex asked Mama to cover for him and his wife since Friday night is their biggest night at the restaurant. The ballet performance is Saturday night. Mama and I are invited. That too was settled Sunday at lunch. Two evenings promised away. Oh, well. The girls will grow up too quickly and we will miss it if we do not make the time now. Mama and I enjoy their ballet performances. It is not like we are really big fans of ballet. We just enjoy being included in the girl’s lives. Their hopping, scooting and shuffling on the stage while dressed in their ballet costumes is quite amusing. They, however, take it very seriously. I can only imagine the work that goes into coordinating that large a troop of performers covering that span of ages. Hats off to the ballet instructors.

Mama is considering taking Yilin several days a week through the summer. Alex asked for the help. Yilin is difficult to deal with in larger blocks of time. She has a quick mind, an aggressive nature and the makings of a bad attitude. She can be condescending and rude without meaning to be that way. It is how her mind works. She gets it. Why doesn’t everyone else? She gets tired of waiting on everyone else to catch up to her. Three to five seconds is her average reaction time to any problem or question. Fifteen seconds is her average time at which her patience is exhausted. She is a challenge, and someone will have to wok with her or she is headed for serious relational issues. Whether or not Mama is that person for this stage of her life is a fair question.

Our pastor’s wife discouraged Mama from taking Alex up on the assignment, but Mama feels like she could help. She definitely has the love capacity to try to work with Yilin. It may be a repeat of the case years ago when Grandma thought she could do much better with Becky than Mama and I were doing – in her opinion. If memory serves me right, we dropped Becky off at Grandma’s on a Monday. Grandma called late on Tuesday to tell Mama she could not handle Becky. She went so far as to tell Mama that she thought Mama was a saint for the patience she expressed toward Becky. We had to drive back to pick Becky up much sooner than planned. We’ll see how things work out if Mama keeps Yilin, but I know that when that happens, Mama’s quiet days are over for the duration of the experiment.

Mama called me as I was getting off work to tell me she had the Echeveria kids while Erin went to a late afternoon doctor’s appointment. Erin has been suffering from what she believes are kidney stones. Yesterday’s appoint was to attempt to diagnose her condition. I met Mama at a park where I had suggested she take the kids to kill some time; got my kisses and headed home to feed and start working around the farm. I got a text from Mama right after I got home letting me know that Erin had been sent for a CAT scan. Not having any idea how long that would take, Mama took the kids to their house and started fixing dinner from limited resources available there. By the time she got home - about 6:30 – I was on the tractor mowing in the barn lot. I did not stop until 8 PM. During which time Mama was mowing around the house. She finished about the same time I was parking the tractor. Mama had to go slower than she is used to because the mower is not still running well. I made some emergency repairs to it the last time she used it but it needs some more specific repairs to be done. Mama is going to see if Grandpa will work on it in the next few days, otherwise, I will have to haul it to the dealer to have it serviced.

We certainly cannot do without it.