Traffic Jam

Matthew in September 2008

Taking a trip down blog memory lane. This was originally published on Thursday, September 25, 2008 as a post called Here to There.

Traffic jam. I have been inching along in traffic for over an hour now. I am late to work but instead of thinking of the emails piling up in my inbox, my mind is elsewhere...

“Boo!” Matt shouts as I round the corner of the hallway into his bedroom. I act as though he nearly gave me a heart attack with a hand over my heart and startled expression on my face. He laughs while I change him out of his soggy diaper, kissing him five thousand times from the crib to the changing table and then Dad appears in pajamas instead of work clothes which makes his morning.

We spent part of the morning taking turns reading Matthew his taped, torn, and worn with love favorite Anna Dewdney Llama Llama books (“Yaya Yaya”) and Eric Carle’s Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See? until Bob and Matt started roughhouse playing, which then I stepped over their rolling bodies to go into the kitchen and make pancakes for everyone.

I decide to get off the highway and take the back roads to work. The road is blocked with traffic from an Applefest celebration being held in the town I am in. It had to be this weekend!

Matthew has finally started to give me kisses. Sometimes they are shy head butts and other times they are heiress-like air kisses. Last weekend we went to Bob’s grandmother’s birthday party. The guest of honor was upstaged by her first great-grandson who spent most of the party smiling on cue for doting relatives. When it was time to go, he leaned in and gave an unprompted kiss to Bob’s grandfather. When we got to the car I gushed that it was already one of my favorite memories and Bob agreed.

I have finally arrived to work and everyone I pass is grumbling about the highway traffic. I am tempted to join them but in retrospect it was nice to sit and think about my family.