I’ll tell you what - this Saturday I got to mow our lawn for the second time since moving in and it was great. We have our neon green little electric plug-in lawn mower, the father-in-law sent over a battery powered edger from Home Depot, a six-pack of Pool Guy Pilsner was cold in the fridge, and Austin has been on the right side of basketball jersey and canvas shorts weather for a minute.
The following day was overcast but we still kept things on a roll. The air filters in the car needed replacing (TRICKY) and then I gave a swing at installing this wireless garage hub that tracks the proximity of your car. It opens the garage door when you get home. It closes when you leave. No buttons to click, just geo-fenced magic. Surprisingly NOT TRICKY and the thing was ready to go in thirty. We drove out to Ski Shores Cafe afterwards and sat near the water’s edge with Charlie. It was a nice little weekend.
We have a kid now - that’s new since I’ve written here. We spent months searching for daycare ahead of returning to work, and I’d like to tell you we had finalists to choose from. An entire imaginary bracket that the Wallin family could whittle down. Instead, a community-wide ledger of application fees and year-long waitlists. Tense scheduled tours where prospective parents weighed which questions to ask in front of each other and which questions not to ask. Joylessly competing to see who could hold the most doors for whom. Not a lot of hope throughout. Except.
Except we ran into one miracle school with zero wait list (??) located through the broadest possible search at winnie.com (??) which turns out is a real thing and not a scam site. The app went through fine. The school assured us they had room. The kiddo had no problem attending exactly when we needed him to start. Something that had no business falling into place after everything that came before… just nonchalantly did. I share this all not because any of it is especially novel (daycare is hard to find, things work out, news at 11) but only as the setup to the note we received last week:
Sarah and Bret,
It’s my pleasure to have Charlie with us every day. He lights my heart whenever I receive him, carry him, or feed him.
Between you and me, he reminds me of my son when he was little so my love for him is true and comes from deep.
Thank you for letting me be part of Charlie’s daily life.
P.S. Excuse my English. I’m not too good at writing.
-C
Reader, I cried. I cried!!! There isn’t much more I can write about the feeling of that other than - this is a thing that can happen now? notes from people you’ve just met with reassurances on how much they love your child? - Reader, SHEESH. The world felt brighter afterwards in a way that I don’t usually think to give it credit for.
One last little bit. Being squarely middle aged and very interested in playing the new Zelda is one thing. But cmonnnnnnn Nintendo is this how you treat an entire micro-generation? Xennials, cover your eyes!
Hey you seem old and more tired than you used to be. Maybe pour yourself a glass of tap water after a long day. Have you considered… Hyrule?
I spent the first day hate-texting this ad to any thread I could think of. And then the next day I kept thinking about the video, and imagining that it was ME making those contented sounds while solving puzzles from the couch. Or what if it were ME smiling to myself out a bus window surrounded by strangers. They wouldn’t need to understand! I WOULD UNDERSTAND.
It’s a terrific game, and I built my boat with three planks and a sail on the first try.
Goodnight! ⛵️