You buy Madden 2022 for Xbox for Cole, and he says he’ll pay you back when you get home. You walk down the aisles and see 24-piece-sets of Tupperware for $7.99, $14 Reebok fleece hoodies, $449 Oculus VR Premium packs and $9.99 wheat-free Advent calendars for dogs. You cannot forget, because Cole won’t let you: it’s Black Friday at Walmart. You find something remarkable in the way they are rolling with things, just trying to figure it out, stumbling through it, making sure their kid feels loved. Three months ago he said he was a “he” instead of the “she” you’d known since birth, and you’re amazed that his parents are in the flow and talk about him - even in the past tense - like a him. You can’t get the pronouns of the 12-year-old right, and keep apologizing. Her fourth and final round is coming in December, and that will be a doozy. She seems mostly like herself, if someone turned the volume down. You’re scanning as she walks to a bench, and she is walking OK, talking OK, and what do you say? You don’t know, but later you learn that this third round of chemo is rough, she’s lost her hair, and she is sleeping more and very tired. She’s just a couple years older than you, and you’re in the pool when she arrives, a black beanie over her head. You learned of one relative’s cancer back in August, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Grandma has reserved the athletic club pool for an hour, and you meet more family there. You eat too much: Pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie and Diet Coke and salted cashews.įriday: You should probably work out today.Īfter breakfast you ask Cole to get off his phone. The kids watch the newer, animated “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” with Benedict Cumberbatch and Kenan Thompson, with the Roast Beast and His Heart That Was Two Sizes Too Small, then B reads the girls a book before they go to sleep. Thursday: You should probably work out today. You get to Shelton late but happy to see your parents, to spread out and relax. B asks if we are done yet, and I notice that other customers aren’t wearing masks. You order the Eggs Benny and OJ and take in the Barney Fife photo signed by Don Knotts, and the regulars in mechanic overalls and faded flannel.Īfter dinner we check out the Boot Barn next door, and see a white pickup with Texas plates parked near the front, big decal letters on the back window: “I identify as a Prius.” We browse the $49 “Cody James” flannels and $300 boots, and CeCe brings up a bedazzled pink belt and vest to show me. The kids debate between Jersey Mike’s or Taco Time, until the glowing Denny’s sign grabs Cole’s attention, and CeCe and Sammy are quickly swayed by the promise of pancakes for dinner. Your 13-year-old insists he’s got to go to the bathroom, so it’s Fife for dinner. on the day before Thanksgiving, picking up Sammy and CeCe on the way down the speedway.Īfter three hours your minivan crawls into Fife, and you’re starting to get short with the kids, the bumper-to-bumper traffic and full-volume Curious George episodes fraying your nerves. Wednesday: You drive south with your B and Cole, leaving Everett at 2 p.m. Dispatches from an out-of-town Thanksgiving.
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