Columnist Dave Barry once wrote about a child's sense of how time works, citing that his 2-year-old believed that everything that has ever happened occurred "yesterday". Capitalizing on this phenomenon, rather than arguing that it was too cold to go swimming in January, tell them they can do it on "Tuesday", Barry suggests. They'll be satisfied, he says, because they have a definite answer, even though it actually has no meaning. Ironically, airport information monitors are based on the same principle, lucky me.
My two youngest are old enough to understand the passing of time and, while we do leave in fact on a Tuesday, at 12 and eight-years-old, we decided on the countdown method to mark our remaining days here in Rhode Island. There it is, as plain as the piece of paper hanging on my refrigerator, our last Tuesday has been crossed out.
Life on Oahu has been a bit of a paradise for Nick and Jake. Living like bachelors in an Aloha State of Mind, they've enjoyed exploring the city night life, play tennis just about every day, and have experienced new foods such as poke, and these little dried fish and crabs that are, apparently, eaten like candy.
Life here in Rhode Island has been a bit less paradise-like. With the burst of beautiful weather, my mother-in-law and I did more yard work in two days then I did all last summer. Every day is another day to pack a tote, lug it to the post office, listen to the workers complain about how heavy/many/long it will take to ship. Then there's all the stuff. With a four-bedroom, 2,200 square foot home with a basement, we have a lot of stuff. Our days have been spent lugging "body bags" of donations to the drop off center, and dozens of bags of trash to the curb, feeling single-handedly responsible for the overfilling of our landfills.
No matter how much we do, there always seems to be more. It does make planning our days easier. As we wait to cross out our last Wednesday here in RI, you'll find me home, packing suitcases, emptying cupboards, and cleaning out closets. There's an open invitation to any one of you to join us ...
we still have the liquor cabinet that needs to be cleaned out ...
Happy I am to be here to help you clean out all the closests, especially the liquor cabinet! Sad I will be when the countdown calendar reaches Monday, as I will be leaving my RI family for the last time as I head home to Florida. My next visit will be to my HI Ohana and I can't wait to see them in their new home wearing flippers!
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