Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Heaven

So my almost three-year old was overtired from being at the fair last night. Don't get me started on the fair, I'll save that for another time. Let's just say that at least it's not as bad a Disney World. Anyway, we spent the morning at the library, followed by an hour at the playground with another mom and her two kids. Home for an hour or so and then into the car to pay $32 to fill the tank and drive around so #1 son would fall asleep, hopefully before #2 son woke up. It took much longer than usual and was accompanied by a lot of questions. If you answer the question it prolongs the falling asleep part. I was switching radio stations (nothing good on NPR, there's only so much news from Iraq that any sane person can take), so it's the "oldies station" and wouldn't you know it, the oldies station or maybe it was the "easy listening" station, was playing the theme song from my senior prom: Heaven by Bryan Adams. It somehow seemed ironic you know, back when love was so much THE thing. Who would have thought back then that love could lead to aimlessly driving around your hometown trying to get your kids to fall asleep. I was thinking about how, with toddlers, everything is so black and white, either it's right and you have to stop at the red light (never mind trying to explain the right on red rule, or why mommy has a hyphenated name), or it's wrong as in "coyotes are bad, Papa said so." But even when we were 18 things were still black and white. LOVE. Love was the thing that was going to save us all. It would be heaven. So by that definition heaven is aimlessly driving around in my car at 3PM on a Wednesday afternoon.
Well at least I got to choose the radio station.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Joanne, I can relate! I've been there. Although I find myself longing for those times now. I had my first of two children just two years after graduating high school. That child, my daughter, is a high school senior this year. Scary! I remember when she would sit in the backseat and "chatter" about anything and everything as I drove along trying to get her baby brother to sleep. Her life was easy, uncomplicated then. Now, things are different...school, work, the prom (already a concern), and love. Things seemed so much easier then, ah yes, the good ol' days...