Daughters turn nap into a tsunami for mommy

Recently we stuffed the Buick full of absolute necessities and herded it to Floyd's Knobs and Granddaughterville. We were there to celebrate two important events: A dance recital and Miss Audrey's birthday.

Every Thursday afternoon during the school year Miss Audrey takes dance lessons: She taps, ballets and jazz steps in a flurry of activities at Miss Bette's School of Dance.

TM, the pseudonym of our youngest daughter, was a bit frazzled and tired. She had been on the go performing the duties of a mother and event planner. Seeing her caused me to race back through the pages of life to my childhood. I believed my parents were super heroes in capes and tights who were never tired and they were never too sick to care for me. Loving parents still function like that.

TM was tired. I asked, "How are you feeling girl?" She replied, "Oh, I am fine. Just a bit tired and distracted." The dark circles under her eyes looked like eye shadow applied with a canoe paddle. In addition to being tired, her throat was sore and she had laryngitis. Her temperature was also elevated. Her throat and head were as hot and tight as a too small bathing suit on a too long car ride back from the beach in a car with the air-conditioning on the blink. I suggested, "Do you have any Vick's Salve? That is good for a cold and sore throat." "I sure do," she rallied, "We use it on the girls and we have also been known to smell like Vick's."

She said, "The way I feel Rip Van Winkle was an insomniac. If you and mom will watch the girls I think I will take a nap." We volunteered for the task of watching 6-year-old Audrey and 2-year old Tess. All went well for a while when Tess asked, "Where is mommy?" We told her that mommy was not feeling well and she was lying down resting and perhaps taking a nap. That satisfied her for a few minutes then she had a prescient thought, "I want to give mommy a Band-Aid to make her feel better." That is what mommies do. We tried to dissuade her but she was off to find the plastic doctor kit that includes stethoscope, syringe, Band-Aids and blood pressure sleeve. She dashed to the toy box, grabbed the kit and headed for mommy.

Both girls went in to lie down with their mother since she does that with them when they are not feeling well. There is a major problem in this case. Mommy and daddy have a water bed that their dad got in junior high so it does not have those fancy baffles and other features that prevent the ocean like waves that can occur. After a few minutes I looked in to apologize for the two new passengers on the U.S.S. Flounce About and to throw out a net for the two rogue fish.

TM was lying on the very edge of the bed reducing the tsunami wave effect. The two pirates were bouncing like bobbers on a cane pole with a 200 pound sea turtle on the hook. TM was a flag in a gale. Tess gleefully chirped, "We are taking a nap."

Larry Vandeventer graduated from Worthington High School and grew up north of Calvertville. He lives in Plainfield and can be reached at Goosecrick@aol.com or (317) 839-7656.