No complaints here
I mentioned last week that Daughter #1 and I had gone to Biloxi for a week. While we were gone, Daughter #2 and Dad stayed home and kept track of each other and the dog.
With the wonders of cell phones, I talked to Daughter #2 several times each day. It almost was like being home. She's always been one to call me and "check in."
When she was small, and stayed with Great-Grandma during the day, she began to call me at work as soon as she learned to use the phone.
She had the tenacity of a bloodhound and could track me down all over town. I don't remember too many outright "emergencies." Mostly she just called to let me know she was bored, ask what time I'd be home, or tell me she missed me.
One of the most amusing calls I got was the time we were coming back from a meeting in Topeka. My cell phone rang and it was Jess — asking if it was OK to make "wassles" (waffles) for a snack.
I thought she'd outgrow the phone habit as she got older but I'm finding she calls more often now. I'm not complaining. It's when I don't hear from her that I begin to worry.
There was one day during the week we were gone that I didn't hear from Jess. At the time I didn't think too much about it. I was busy and figured she might have been working or had gotten to the point where she didn't have anything to say. Evidently that was the day she was keeping Grandma and Dad briefed with running reports of her housecleaning activities.
By the time we got home, she almost was jumping up and down with excitement to see if we liked what she had done. She had moved furniture around in the living room and cleaned. She also moved the piano (by herself) to another location in the dining room and cleaned in there as well. In the kitchen she cleaned out cupboards, moved the microwave, and changed some other things around.
I'm still finding things but you won't hear me complaining. It was nice to come home to a clean house and I'm still appreciating that.
I thought when school started the phone calls would end and I was a little melancholy about that. I was immensely cheered when I was called to the phone on a hectic Monday morning to hear Jess's voice. I had to laugh at her emergency. She called to let me know the refrigerator was "broken" and the light wouldn't come on when she opened the door. Of course, all this happened when electricity was out all over town!
It's good to count your blessings — like a daughter who voluntarily cleans the house or one who calls every few hours to tell me she's bored, misses me, or we're out of "wassles." I'm not complaining about that either.
— DONNA BERNHARDT
