My parents came and stayed with Maxine while Horyon and I went out for dinner and a movie. (Dinner was at Arby's, and the movie was Spiderman 3. Both very nice, but not quite worth blogging about, though probably I will a bit anyway.)
Maxine did well with Mom and Dad. They ordered pizza and spaghetti. Maxine loves spaghetti, so she was happy. They told us that she never seemed to notice that we were gone. I was simultaneously happy and disappointed. Well, just a tiny, little bit disappointed. OK, the disappointment faded like the interest in a simile that is expertly crafted yet not quite relevant to the subject and perhaps a bit too long for that matter.
Maxine had a good time.
And for me, the event had a stereoscopic feeling; I still remember staying home with a babysitter while Mom and Dad went out for the evening. Mom's coworker had a couple of teen-aged daughters who were our regular sitters until we were old enough to make long-distance calls and drink all the beer ourselves.
I don't think Maxine will start remembering events like this for a little while yet, but when she does, I expect her to have some of the same feelings I did:
* Jealousy: Mom and Dad are doing something fun WITHOUT ME!!!!
* Anticipation: Special treats came with being baby-sat, such as
- t.v. dinners (which we rarely ate at the Sack home)
- permission to watch Fantasy Island in its entirety (I always thought Cathy was cool for allowing this one, though in hindsight my parents may have told her to not worry so much about the bedtime, just so we would think she was cool.)
* Excitement: Something different is happening! Whoooaaaaaa!!!!
I don't remember ever being afraid, and Maxine didn't show any anxiety at all tonight. It might have been because it was Grandpa and Grandma, but she gets comfortable with other people quickly in general.
And so tonight, as Horyon and I went out the door (deliberately skipping the good-bye for this first time), I finally started to see the experience in depth, from the perspective of both parent and child. I can't make out the grandparent point of view quite as clearly as the other two, but I understand it better for having talked with my parents about it.
Speaking of which, I would just like to state, for the record, that my parents, Richard Arnold Sack and Erin Ann (Euler) Sack are pretty awesome grandparents. For Mother's Day we got Mom a bottle of wine. We wanted to get more, but as she is quick to point out, she doesn't really need more stuff. Her response to the wine was that she was just happy to have us here.
Fair enough, but that cost me around $8,000, if you include visa fees, airfare and shipping for all of our stuff. We were certainly happy to oblige, but I don't think we'll be spending that much next year, Mom.
But we will be here.
[One note: these pictures are not from tonight, as we did not take any pictures tonight. Sorry.]
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