It's the same old song once again

This weekend has seemed like a reunion tour for a great old band. The original band was a two person group, and it thought it was going to be that way forever. Then something magical happened, and it changed. It became the most unlikely foursome. They put together some amazing memories over the following fifteen years. The original twosome knew the band would one day break up. They knew it would be a sad day, but also a day they would feel very proud to have ushered the two other members out into their own adventure. The first to leave was Nastia. Though she only moved down the road, it’s still a long way away when you know you’ll only see her when she comes over to wash laundry, or accepts a dinner invitation. The younger one, Elena, the one you thought would never leave, experienced the thrill of being out on her own when she slept over at her sister’s place. Now she talks about what she needs to do to move out, and how to get to that point. When she finally leaves it will be as sad as when her sister left.

It’s only been a couple of weeks Nastia has been gone. To me the house is emptier than it’s been in a long time. When we first adopted them the questions were how are we going to find the time to fit them into our lives. The question after fifteen years is what are we going to be doing with all of the empty time, and space. I’m not looking forward to it. When Karl left in 1979 it never occurred to me the feeling in the house had changed. I just remember I got my own bedroom for the first time. When Ruth left, I registered a slight change in the vibe of the house, but it wasn’t huge. Then Eric left. My Dad died, and I left a few months later. Suddenly my mom had a completely empty house. Again I don’t know how she did it, and it barely occurred to me what a seismic change it was.

This weekend Sean spent his time with his father. Nastia came over for dinner on Friday. The four of us sat around the table talking, and joking like no time had passed since the last time we did it. Maybe it would have been the same if Sean were here, but to me at least it was special. It was the band back together for one last time. Maybe the last time, you never know. During the talk at dinner it got very loud. I mentioned maybe it was time to play the quiet game. No one must have heard me, because the conversation kept on going. On this night playing the quiet game would have been a crime.

Tonight the four of us went with Nancy to the movies. We saw Avatar- Fire, and Ice. I know Elena enjoyed it. She sat forward in her seat, like she does when she is really into a movie. When a bad guy died, she gave a pulled fist gesture. You know what I’m talking about. You make a fist, hold it at about a 45 degree angle about shoulder high, like pulling a chain, you yank it down to about belt level, more or less. Well future people that’s what cool people would do in 2026 anyway. Yeah, it is silly, just as all the ‘cool’ things you do now will look silly in a very few years. And yes, I remember kids saying groovy, and yes, I wore bell bottom pants. I won’t even get into what they were, and I’m not going to explain elephant pants either. On the way home from the movies tonight I was going to offer to make pizzafreet tomorrow morning. I’ve talked about it before, you may remember it is fried pizza dough, but I felt I was pushing the reunion tour a bit much. I’ll save it for another day when a second reunion tour magically happens.