My three littlest nephews are coming for a visit in a few weeks, and I can’t wait!
They feel so far away now that they live in Pittsburgh; it just feels farther away now, and it’s not just the miles.
When they lived in Las Vegas, they still had the same time zone as us; now it’s all math to figure out what time it is there and how disruptive it will be to call. I usually send them letters, so that they get something in the mail just for them, but on Jack’s 7th birthday we called to wish him a happy day.
The conversation was epic, because my sister-in-law put the phone on speaker and so it was like I was talking to a roomful of kids at once. After singing, I asked Jack how his birthday was going, and he informed me that he had opened three presents. He painstakingly listed them, with extreme attention to detail, and I have a strong suspicion it wasn’t just to tell me about the gifts.
In the background I could hear his brother Nolan, age 5, desperately demanding that he wanted to talk to Auntie Juli, too. I could hear his mother assuring him that he would have a turn, after Jack, and the more agitated Nolan got, the more Jack’s details got more detailed and drawn out.
“I got a Minecraft Lego set, and it has (indistinct cross chatter, mostly consisting of Nolan’s pleas to have his turn). I got a rocket – well, not a real rocket. It is a toy that you stomp on. It’s a stomp rocket. (Mom reminds him that that was our gift to him, and he pauses, then says, “Oh. Thank you.” Nolan amps up the pleas, Mom tries to quiet him and remind him that he will get a turn). I got a water blaster – well, three water blasters. One for Wesley, one for Nolan, and one for me. (Long description of the appearance of said blasters, over his brother’s protests.)”
I admired the gifts and asked if it was warm enough to play with the outside toys. There was a pause, and then Jack informed me with a puzzled voice that it was cloudy and almost dark. (The tone clearly implying I was impaired if I didn’t realize that. I thought about clarifying, but decided it wasn’t worth trying to speak over the echoing demands in the background.)
Next Jack told me that he had his swimming lessons that day, and that he had jumped into the water – here he backtracked to assure me that this was after the lessons, and with permission from the swim instructor – and his cannonball was the biggest and the water splashed the highest and it almost touched the blue flags.
As I have never seen the pool, I said, “Wow, that must have been something!” Jack informed me that it was something, and assured me that next time he had swimming lessons he would jump higher and splash higher and touch the flags and maybe even the (indistinct cross chatter as now Nolan is closer, louder and more urgent and attempting to wrestle the phone away).
Finally, having exhausted the current day’s news, Jack surrendered the phone to his brother. Nolan immediately went silent. I tried to start the conversation with an inquiry about his swimming lessons, and I got a terse one word affirmative that he was also taking them. I said I was looking forward to seeing them in a few weeks, and suddenly the conversational floodgates opened.
Did I know that they were going to California? (Mom in the background laughing and trying to remind Nolan that we lived in California and we knew they were coming. Long pause while this was digested, and memories accessed.) Were they coming to my house? Did I have toys? Did I have the train set and the airplanes and the Legos? Did I have movies? Did I have the Thomas the Train movies?
When I answered yes to all the above questions Nolan had exhausted all his need to talk to me, and he abruptly handed the phone to his mom, who was still laughing.
I can’t wait to hug those boys.
Juliana LeRoy wears many hats, including wife, mother, paraeducator and writer. She can be spotted around Windsor gathering material, or reached at
ml****@so***.net
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