written as if on Tuesday
The house line rang this morning at like 9 AM. Usually, it’s for my dad since hardly anyone calls me on the house phone these days. Not a minute after the phone stopped ringing, my dad came up the stair to tell me I had a phone call. I was really confused, partly ‘cuz I just woke up, but mostly ‘cuz who the heck would be calling me on the house line?
“It’s Amanda.”
No way!
I sprung out of bed and picked up the phone. “Hey jessi, it’s Amanda Greco.” Some part of me couldn’t help but laugh ‘cuz what other Amanda do I know? And from what I remember, she’s not Amanda Greco anymore, she’s Amanda Greco Holmes. “I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and my kids to the Nature Sanctuary. See how good they are at staying off the pavement.”
I must have paused longer than I thought ‘cuz Amanda went on, “You remember how when we used to go there we’d try and make it through without touching pavement?”
“No, I mean yeah, I remember. Sorry. You said kids,” I noted, emphasizing the plural.
“Yeah, I know. It’s really weird, huh?”
I agreed to tag along, since it wasn’t like I was doing a whole lot else today. She said she would come and pick me up a little before 11. I gave her my cell number and we said our good-byes.
Kids. Amanda has not one, but two kids. I’m still trying to grasp that fact.
I lounged about in the mean time. I was still kinda sleepy, since I’ve reverted to Japanese time again and have been wont to stay awake until 3 or 4 in the morning. I must have dozed off ‘cuz before I knew it, my dad was asking me if I was expecting someone. I guess the door bell rang, but I didn’t hear it. I had the presence of mind to change immediately after hanging up with Amanda, so I was quick to open the door. I waved to Amanda to acknowledge that I was on my way out the door, then dashed by to my room to gather up my messenger bag and some cash before pulling on my runners.
It’s been two years since I last saw Amanda, so yeah, there was hugging involved. I couldn’t help but think despite the kids, she hasn’t changed; she looked the same as she did when I knew her in high school.
Her children were in their car seats when I slid into the passenger’s side. I remember meeting Sophia, but the little boy was definitely a new addition. Amanda introduced me to Daniel. He has a mop of light brown hair and brilliant blue eyes.
We started on our merry way to the Nature Center. I can’t remember exactly how we got on the subject, but we ended up talking about Sophia and her interest in the Civil War. Apparently, Sophia is quite the precocious little girl. She was wearing a dress because girls didn’t wear tank tops and shorts “back then” (we were going to visit the farm while we were on our walk). She also had a lovely sun hat on to complement the outfit.
The parking lot for the Plum Grove entrance was full, so we had to use the one off of Schaumburg. I helped Sophia out of her car seat while her mom got the stroller and stuff ready for Daniel. Once the kids were more or less secure, we made our way into the visitor’s center. Sophia wanted to see the turtles since we were there.
Sophia is such a bright little girl. She pointed out a lot of the different plants and grasses around the area. Amanda had a book for her that helped her to name the ones she forgot. This brought up the conversation about home-schooling. I told Amanda that she was probably smarter than half the teachers Sophia would encounter in her elementary school so if she and Matt wanted to home-school their kids, they should go ahead and do it.
Amanda admitted to wanting to keep it up for as long as she could, hoping to cultivate Sophia’s desire for learning. She said that they were still social and that Amanda was part of a network of home-schooling parents that organized field trips and sometimes the other mothers would teach a specific subject, like Spanish. It all sounded incredibly perfect for what Amanda wanted. She apologized to me, saying that she feels bad for knocking the profession I chose. I told her I didn’t take offense and offered to help out whenever or however I could. Amanda is a thousand times smarter than me anyway, so she’d be a fine teacher.
The kids wandered about from display to display. Daniel pretty much followed what his sister did as fast as his two-year-old legs would carry him. We looked at the turtles, pointed out cattails, and listened to some of the narrations.
Amanda suggested that we start walking so we could get to the farm before it closed. We were still sidetracked by the silo, which we all climbed; Sophia was bounding up the spiral staircase, and Daniel tried to manage on his own (with Amanda holding his hand of course), but the stair proved to be a bit more challenging for him than expected and reluctantly allowed Amanda to carry him up the rest of the way, and I brought up the rear. I remembered when Amanda and I, and other times Tomczak and I, would go up the silo and pretend that we didn’t live in the suburbs. You know, ‘cuz every once in a while you need to get away. The Nature Sanctuary was always that kind of place for us.
Eventually, we started down the trail towards the farm. It was an interesting walk; Sophia kept picking various grasses and leaves to feed the caterpillars they usually see when walking to the farm, while Daniel alternated between walking a short distance and having Amanda carry him.
Amanda and I did a mild catch up while we meandered, which is a really good way to describe what we were doing. It took us twice as long to get to the farm as it would have taken me and Amanda to do on our own, but such is the way with children. It was absolutely five-by-five with me because I was having a good time. Sophia “taught” me how to climb about the trees, and showed me which were the best sticks to collect for the house we were going to make. Daniel might be a fine swordsman when he gets older, his hack and slash technique is pretty good when he whips those sticks around, much to Sophia’s annoyance.
When we were stopped by Sophia’s “house” (the wigwam example at the history camp), Daniel did something that his sister did not appreciate. Rather than hit him, she just hugged him fiercely.
“I like how whenever she’s mad at him, she just hugs him,” Amanda commented idly. I thought it was pretty funny.
Eventually, we made it to the farm. It took some coaxing to get Daniel to catch up with his mom and his sister, but after three “races” where he totally kicked my ass, we were at the farmhouse. Now, Amanda takes her kids there a lot, so much that they know the workers. To be fair, Monique is an old classmate. I’m not gonna lie and say I remember her, ‘cuz I really don’t, but she does look really familiar. (That reminds me, I have to find my yearbook.)
While we were on the farm, we wandered around the house, the garden, pumped water from the well with Monique, fed the chickens and the goslings, had a snack, and fed the draft horses and the cows.
Dude, the draft horses are ginormous! Seriously! The females’s heads are the size of my upper body! I feared for Sophia and Daniel ‘cuz their heads were like the size of their whole bodies! Of course, Amanda feared not. She said she looked forward to the day when Sophia and Daniel were old enough for her to bring them to the sanctuary, give them their lunches, paper, and pencils and let them loose to wander at their own pace, just like she did when she and her brother Daniel were younger.
Amanda is like the best mom ever. Her kids are bright and beautiful, she encourages them to learn and ask questions, she tries to teach them to be considerate of others and each other, and she loves spending time with them.
As we were leaving the farm, Sophia decided that this would be a good time to hold my hand. So she led me down the path to the mulberry tree, where Amanda grabbed one of the branches and picked some of the berries for us to eat. I love that Sophia knows so much about nature.
We stopped by the stone bridge that covered the little creek. Sophia wanted to play and Amanda let her, so long as she took off her shoes first. I couldn’t help but laugh. Most parents would try and persuade their children otherwise, but Amanda went ahead and encouraged it. Daniel amused himself, with his mother’s help, with making leaf boats and setting them off the bridge on one side of the creek and then rushing over to the other to see them rush over the rocks. Unfortunately for us, while Amanda was helping Sophia with something, Daniel thought it would be a good idea to throw his sandals into the creek as well.
They floated much better than the boats did.
He was confined to the stroller after that incident. Sophia held my hand most of the way. She asked her mom if it was okay for me to pick her up, but I panicked at that. I’m really uncomfortable picking up kids ‘cuz I’m convinced I’m going to drop them. So Sophia contented herself with having her mom carry her while I pushed her brother’s stroller.
It was a bit quicker getting back to the car. Amanda apologized for keeping me so late, she really didn’t think it would take two and half hours to make it to the farm and back. I told her she was silly and I had a fun time.
She asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I was seriously indifferent. She suggested sushi, and her kids enthusiastically agreed. I was stunned. Amanda’s kids eat sushi, and not just cucumber rolls, either. They seem to like most of the standards including tuna, salmon, and shrimp.
We ended up going to Dominick’s to purchase said sushi and then we took it back to my house to eat in the backyard.
I can’t remember the last time I walked in the grass barefoot. It felt so cool! The neighbors were outside with the dogs they were dogsitting, and Sophia and Daniel ran right up to the fence to pet them. One of them was a Great Dane, and the other was a little pug. Of course, the Holmes children were used to dogs, Omaha (the German Shepard) lived with them for three years before his arthritis got so bad he had to go live at Grampa Joe’s, and they currently have a chocolate lab.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the way Sophia and Daniel ate sushi. There was a brief disagreement over the nigiri, but lucky for them there was enough so they could each have a piece of the three different kinds. They seemed fine with the soy sauce and only a little wasabi, and they were both capable of eating more sushi than I expected them to.
Daniel was getting incredibly tired, though. He wanted to play with the screen door, and Amanda interceded. He started crying then, so we went back inside and tried to get him to calm down. He’s usually napping by 1:30, and it was WAY past then.
They left not long after my mom came home from work. I was really glad to have gotten the chance to hang out with them. I can’t get over how great of a mom Amanda is, and how smart her children are. I love that they know more about nature and history than they do about Disney and McDonald’s. I especially enjoy the fact that they eat sushi.
‘Twas a really great day.