Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 18476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
“Like Daddy,” Lu adds matter of factly. “He helps other grownups potect kids like the animal grownups help potect us.”
It’s impossible not to smirk at her simile attempt.
She is definitely my logic girl.
Whether it’s with numbers or words or colors, she’s all about patterns and connecting dots.
Neither one sees colors or tastes sounds or shows any other indication they have the same condition I do; however, according to the doctors, Lu’s love of sequences and math and music doesn’t mean she will develop it later.
There’s no guarantee.
And I’m okay with that.
And if she or her sister does at some point?
I’m thankful both Slater and I have the tools to help the transition.
“Ya think they have animal hroof vests?!” Excitement causes Lair Bear’s blue eyes to suddenly bulge. “Ohhhhhhhh!!!! Ya think we can wear ‘em?!”
And that mismatched shoe wearing daredevil is definitely my, explore first, makes notes about it later kiddo.
She’s the reason we stay stocked up in Band-Aids and tequila.
Price tag of the latter severely unimportant.
“I think you two cowgirls should find your giddy up before you’re last to get to feed the reindeer,” I sweetly remind.
“We can’t be last to feed our own pets!” Lair Bear dramatically squawks, grabs her sister’s hand, and takes off running towards the front door, her best friend trying to mumble out some sort of objection. “We gotta be first!”
Outside, the three of us trek across the massive property to the area where all the other children as well as their parents are gathered around the animal expert. To no surprise, Lair Bear leads them through the tight squeezes and tiny gaps until they are in the very front where she claimed they needed to be.
Yeah.
She also gets that from her dad.
To this day, when he makes a promise – whether it’s to me or the girls or someone else in the family – he does whatever it takes to follow through.
And his devotion – one of my favorite things about him – is exactly how he got roped into going last minute Christmas shopping with Kolby, something that statistically speaking over half the country apparently does, although the reasons why were less definitive.
Even with my own personal data crunching.
I deduced a two-hour window of time for their return based on traffic patterns, distance to his preferred mall, store closing times, and the unavoidable brotherly spats that they were inevitably going to have, hence me pushing them to leave sooner in the day than they actually did.
I anticipated that they would be gone for a while.
I just didn’t anticipate it to be this long.
It’s outside of my calculations, which has me wondering if there was information I forgot to factor in or an unexpected outside influence changing the situation.
They’ve been gone so long that Slater’s basically missed the entire day.
We’re talking, hi everyone who beat us here, good luck with all the kids running around, bye I’m leaving now level of disappearing.
And despite how into everything our daughters are – cooking, eating, crafting, dancing – they have yet to let a single hour pass without reminding me their dad isn’t here but should be.
Not snapping at them is, in itself, its own little Christmas miracle.
Like I get it girls.
Daddy isn’t here to make buñuelos with us.
Daddy is missing mommy get more paint on her sweater than on the pinecones we’re using for swan ornaments.
Daddy didn’t get to sing Spanish Christmas carols into Abuelo’s lucky kitchen screwdriver.
Normally, the stretch of dad missed moments spans across an entire week – or three – versus half a goddamn day.
I can’t remember a time when I was this falalala annoyed in my entire life.
“Daddy’s gonna miss feeding Rainbow and Sprinkles,” Lair Bear huffs upon the crowd dispersing in different directions for the other animal options, prompting my stare to soar to the night sky.
“Yeah,” Lu sighs loudly in disappointment prior to adding, “but Mommy will take all the pictures so he can still see us.”
Because of course she will.
Mommy is used to handling so much on her own.
Bitterness has me briefly shutting my eyes.
How is it he’s physically home yet still missing from our lives?
Doesn’t this defeat the whole change in career thing?
“Maybe she can video chat!” Lu squeals her brilliant idea, summoning my gaze back downward. “That way he here for this too! He not have to miss all of Nochebuena!”
Dear Santa…Could Mommy get a little love for already being here? Is that too much to ask? Really?
“Mommy,” Lair Bear calls over her shoulder as the blonde animal handler, Cassie, retrieves a bag of treats she had placed off to the side, “can you try to video chat Daddy?” She doesn’t even wait for me to possibly think of an answer before poking out her bottom lip and releasing one more pale pink word. “Pwease?”
I offer them both a sweet smile of surrender and dive into my tiny tights pocket to retrieve my cell. One quick password and swipe later, I’m attempting to reach him for the first time since he left. Until now, we’d been treating this shopping situation like any other “mission” with him left alone to focus on completing the operation at hand in the quickest and most efficient way, but my little Panic! At The Disco fangirls have sung. Their “High Hopes” are more important than their uncle’s last-minute journey to find them gifts.