Hiatus

It's been awhile since I posted last. I'm not sure why I tend to forget about blogs, forums, and miscellaneous social networking sites... In my defense, it is summer, and Amelia and I are quite the busy bees lately. She finished with school for the summer, attending her very first field trip to the aquarium, flew off to Chicago for the 4th of July holiday, lazed about on the shores of the very murky Indiana Dunes, and came back to find hearts aching for those we left behind.

I HATE Chicago with the passion of a thousand burning suns. The endless traffic. Holy crap, the neverending, soul destroying TRAFFIC! The ceaselessly nosy and interfering in-laws whose dental dilemmas are an excruciating torment that must be endured with fake smiles plastered on face without even the hint of the stomach-churning nausea that one feels when being confronted---no slapped across the face--with such an impossibly disgusting odor. My mother's continuous stumbling over my daughter's name...like she can just never quite remember her 4th grandchild's name. Her repeated and pointed questions inflicted upon me and my poor little superfluous midsection--"So when are you finally going to tell me that you're pregnant?" My sister livin' large at the trailer park with a man without any upper teeth to speak of, filthy children always running underfoot, and a menagerie of animals living (and peeing/pooping) in her strangely carpeted kitchen......

.....So why do I feel so sad and sort of empty now that I'm back to my regularly scheduled life here in Denver? Denver--my haven of the last 5 years. Copious amounts of sunshine, great hockey, beautiful mountains forming the perfect backdrop to the city...almost as if they're giving the Mile High City a big old Rocky Mountain hug.

Amelia blossoms when she's around her cousins. Really blossoms. Her language and mannerisms are mature and sometimes scarily reminiscent of her nearly 8 year-old cousin's. She marveled at fireflies for the first time ever, saw her first fireworks display, went to her 8th state (Indiana) for a day trip to the beach with her cousins and Aunt "Isa", and just lived in the limelight for a solid week. Everyone clamored for time with her, and that felt very, very good.

Peter and I let family sit for us while we went out twice. The in-laws happily took over for a night while we enjoyed a yummy, uninterrupted dinner out. My dad watched after her while we met up for dinner and a nightcap with our old friend Chanda. We had such a great time and I was so sad to say goodbye. Good people like her just don't come by very often. I miss her lots.

My beloved Busia is in her mid-eighties now. While she's still sharp as a tack, I know that I could get that dreaded phone call sometimes in the next few years. Saying goodbye and driving away from her is always such a heartbreak. Because you just never know...

Coming off a whirlwind of a week, the long hot days stretch before me, seemingly without much purpose. Amelia asks repeatedly for her cousins, her Papa, Busia, Nana, and doesn't seem satisfied by my answers.

"They're at home in Chicago. We have to take an airplane to see them, honey. We'll be back in October, and Aunt Isa and the kids will be visiting in a few weeks. We live in Denver and they are in Chicago at their house."

She just sighs.