My Magic Place in Maryland

I am sitting outside of Jon’s door, waiting for him to fall asleep for his nap. He only takes one nap a day, and sometimes it is like trying to keep an ice cream cone from dripping once it gets too warm. You know that it is dripping somewhere, you just have to keep checking the back and sides while you are eating the front. Just when I think that he is passed out asleep, his bedroom door slowly begins to open and I see him stick his head out just enough to make sure that I am still here in the hallway—blocking his exit lane. Sometimes it is good that Meg and Anton’s apartment is so small. I don’t think that I could keep up with him were he given more potential escape routes.

My two forms of parenting (bribing the child and/or consistently having the child practice being obedient) are working well. Of course, Megan has already gotten Jon very familiar with the second method. He moves so gracefully that it is hard to perceive the moment when Jon’s actions flip from “No way in the world am I going to do THAT.” to resigned compliance with his mother’s or father’s requests. They have an “I’m going to count to three. If you can’t do/go/come, then when I say 3, I will help you do/go/come.” routine firmly established as part of their parenting routine. They are both so quiet mannered and so grateful for the other, so in love with each other, so dedicated to uplifting the other—that I love being here in their home.

Jon is still napping. I have had a lovely shower and now I am camped out along one wall of the living room, right below the wall-sized picture window. Megan found an orange—kind of a subdued pumpkin colour—fitted sheet to cover the air mattress. It has become a small oasis where I can fold clothes or work with my photos. Anton uses it for study and occasional naps. Meg feeds Kate here and at night she lays here while I massage her lower back with Shea butter cream. Jon sits here while he watches a movie on my laptop and brings me his cars to admire. I quite like the arrangement. It is an inviting kind of set-up that can only exist here and now. It is almost as if I have been given a magic place to stay in while I am here in Maryland.