Dear boys,
This photo was taken after we went to The Museum of Natural History’s kids trick-or-treat event where we covered all five floors in record time. Cash and I put together a game plan this year: ride the closest elevator to the top floor, use stairs for quicker access to lower levels, bypass all crafts tables and head straight to the candy ones. And it worked perfectly. We were in and out of a supremely crowded New York event in 45 minutes flat!
When we were almost home I had you guys sit on the neighbor’s stoop, decorated with pumpkins and mums, for a Halloween photo. Grey, too tired to put on his gold Power Rangers mask, and Cash, whose Ghost Face mask was complete with a fake blood pump, made the perfect showcase of good and evil.
On actual Halloween, Cash was up at the MCS farm with his class, so Grey and I were left to trick-or-treat the city streets by ourselves. But we also had a game plan: dress in costume at MCS as soon as school lets out, forgo dinner in order to get as much candy as possible and beat the pending rain (bad or good parenting is up for debate), and travel as far down Columbus Avenue as possible. We managed to walk from 85th street to Columbus Circle — a total of 25 city blocks — hitting up each store along the way until arriving at the Time Warner building. Grey’s bucket, filled with colorful fun-sized treats, was almost too heavy to hold at this point but he STILL wanted to walk more, conceding only when it began to rain lightly. The express train home was not just a relief to our tired dogs, but a chance to devour some of that chocolate yum!
Cash returned home the day after Halloween with a profound feeling of accomplishment. “Mommy, I felt really proud this time at the farm. I did a lot of things for myself.” Like what I asked. “Like carrying my heavy duffle bag to and from the bus … figuring out what clothes I needed to wear for the different types of weather and chores … unpacking and sorting my things. It just felt really good.”
While there were lots of special moments from this farm trip, one of your favorites was the hens eating from your hand. “It didn’t really hurt, it was just a little tug on your palm. Like this Mom (demonstrating on my hand).”
“I didn’t like the mud. Of course. Or the sawdust. But (teacher) Kevin knows this about me so when they were shoveling sawdust, he put me in charge of the wheel barrel. And when my friends were jumping up and down in the mud — and Mom, I mean, it was splashing ALL UP on their clothes!! — they were calling me to come join them … and I was like ‘Nah, that’s okay’.
It’s good though ‘cause they know me. They know I don’t like to get super dirty. That’s just who I am.”
It was nice to have you back home Cash. I’d been sleeping on the couch for two nights because Grey can’t sleep in the room without you. He gets too scared. So I slept on the living room couch as emotional support, the bedroom door cracked just enough for me to be in sight.
Though there weren’t any hugs as your boys reunited, I could tell you were happy to be together. Sometimes I’ll ask you guys to give each other a hug, even taking it a step further saying, “C’mon…say ‘I love you’”, just to get a reaction. Predictably you look at each other and fall out laughing, carrying on with whatever you guys are doing at the time.
There’s no need for that in your brotherhood. It’s unspoken for you at this stage in life. And my silly request is just an unnecessary interruption in your battle against the forces of good and evil!
I love you both so very much.
Always & forever, Mom