Day One Hundred Eighteen

It's a Grand Day

The Grands are here. They spent the night and we are going to hang out today. My six year old grandson sat with me last night in Gigi's Chair and he surreptitiously mapped out the plan for today. The plan was for my ears only. You see, he loves collecting Legos, and he knows if he asks, I will say yes. But, if his sister hears him ask, she will come down on him like a monkey on a cupcake, and ruin his fantasy. So, he whispers in my ear "the plan." He was so serious about it he actually suggested, "we should go to bed early cause we have a big day (today)."

We tried to go to bed "early" but a spider thwarted our plans. I saw something suspicious on the ceiling so I crawled onto the bed and figured, easy peasy, I can capture this thing. First off, I was struck by its uncanny resemblance to a scorpion. That momentary pause gave my target a head start in escaping. Now, if spiders would just try to run away, they could still be caught. But no, being smarter than humans, they prefer a different method - falling down. Once they fall they have myriad places to hide. I had a vision of this scorpion-like spider crawling on us as we slept...

The only solution was to get the vacuum cleaner. While Pap supervised teeth brushing, I got on my knees, armed with a flashlight and my Dyson. I practically vacuumed the grout out of the tile in an effort to make myself feel better. I knew I would not sleep if I didn't at least try to catch the tiny monster.

It was while I was on the floor, in the middle of launching my attack, I heard my grandson yell, "It's on the pillow!!" I jumped up (no easy thing for a person with bad knees and a worse back) to see my grandson pointing frantically at the pillows. Then I noticed the look on my granddaughter's face. She did not look like someone terrified of a spider on her pillow. Rather, her look was the kind you'd see on someone pulling an April Fool's prank.

I was so tired, confused and achy, I wasn't sure which kid to believe. The one who swears he saw a spider or the one grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I picked the cat. She confessed that what he saw were her fingers under the pillow. He didn't believe her. An argument ensued. I no longer cared if there was a snake under the bed - I was done. Vacuum off. Lights out.

So, we survived the night. My grandson is up and ready to go. This is funny because he has been known to sleep until noon. I must get to the task at hand which is to take us to breakfast then on to Legos' search. I am surprisingly excited...