Passings
Last Friday, the father of our nanny's husband passed away. This event was not unexpected or explicitly traumatic, as cancer had been found eating away at him over the summer, and while he did put up some fight (mainly for show, seemingly), for the most part he seemed to just settle in with his family and wait the whole thing out to resolution. P had gone to visit his family a few weeks back and had found his dad then to be a bit loopy but lucid- at the time, the prognosis for him had been not long now. K & P were away early Saturday morning, and the rest of us carried on as we can.
Honestly, I cannot say now just how we'd hoped to care for our new baby on our own, back in the days before we brought Beth home; my mother in law has been helping out, our house guest J and his partner S (who's been visiting over this last weekend) lend a hand whenever they can, and Richard n I both take time out of our jobs, but it still gets a bit frantic at times. The baby & the nanny have grown into each other's habits like vines scaling a supporting wall, and her behavior is a unsettled & restless; her nap schedule is off, meals are quarrelsome, and she's cried out at night for the first time in ages. Something isn't as it has been, she knows, but she's not quite to the point where she can articulate just what. The rest of us also struggle with the absence, as the house feels half full and entirely too quiet- half of our family is missing, and we too grieve for their loss. Their dog Lucy has gone completely neurotic and refuses to relieve herself outside without great effort on our part- I suspect that much like Beth, she's smart enough to have realized something was off as K & P made ready to leave, but the dog can't imagine them coming back.
Back they will come tho- K is to return tomorrow, and P will be home some time next week. The echos will last for a while tho- I've been thinking a lot of my own parents and what the future might well be. One way or another, I think it will work out..
Grace n good fortune, all.
Honestly, I cannot say now just how we'd hoped to care for our new baby on our own, back in the days before we brought Beth home; my mother in law has been helping out, our house guest J and his partner S (who's been visiting over this last weekend) lend a hand whenever they can, and Richard n I both take time out of our jobs, but it still gets a bit frantic at times. The baby & the nanny have grown into each other's habits like vines scaling a supporting wall, and her behavior is a unsettled & restless; her nap schedule is off, meals are quarrelsome, and she's cried out at night for the first time in ages. Something isn't as it has been, she knows, but she's not quite to the point where she can articulate just what. The rest of us also struggle with the absence, as the house feels half full and entirely too quiet- half of our family is missing, and we too grieve for their loss. Their dog Lucy has gone completely neurotic and refuses to relieve herself outside without great effort on our part- I suspect that much like Beth, she's smart enough to have realized something was off as K & P made ready to leave, but the dog can't imagine them coming back.
Back they will come tho- K is to return tomorrow, and P will be home some time next week. The echos will last for a while tho- I've been thinking a lot of my own parents and what the future might well be. One way or another, I think it will work out..
Grace n good fortune, all.