The mom who never called & Day 119. 246 Days Left.

A few months ago, at our mall’s indoor playground, I met a woman who, it turned out, lives almost directly behind us. Deena has two little boys; the oldest a few months older than Addison (he is already four) and the youngest is only a couple of weeks younger than Jackson. She and her husband had only moved to the area recently, and we were both glad to meet another stay-at-home mom in the neighborhood.

While our kids played, we talked about life as a stay-at-home mom, schools and pediatricians and all the other stuff moms are required to discuss on their first meeting. Actually, her almost two year old played; my almost two year old ran around with his finger up his nose and attempted to pinch, bite, kick, body-slam and otherwise tackle her little boy the entire time. I was mortified and apologetic and mumbled every few minutes about how he wasn't sleeping well lately, we are working on teaching him to play nice, or some other lame excuse. Deena was completely gracious, of course. We traded phone numbers and emails then went back to our respective houses. I hoped my new friend would want to get together again with That Very Loud Family That Is Raising a Rowdy Boy.

I called Deena a couple of weeks later with the hopes we could meet up at a Latte Fun; a coffee house with a play place. Perfect for toddlers and even more perfect for moms to sip coffee and play catch-up. I have never been and wanted to get there during the week. Even more perfect, I had another mama to go with!

A few days passed and I did not hear back. I waited a week before sending a “how are things going” email. More days passed. Nothing. I checked my email’s spam folder. Nothing.

No return email. No return phone call.

Not wanting to seem too desperate, I let the months pass but started to worry a bit… Did she get into a car accident on the way home? Did something serious happen to her, her husband or godforbid one of her boys? Was their a family emergency that required them to suddenly move back to Indiana? Something had to be terribly wrong- right?

Last week I decided to make one final attempt. I sent an “I have not heard from you, hope everything is well” email. One week to the day, NOTHING!

Surely my one little monster boy could not have scared off a woman with two toddler boys… right? Addison and her four year old played so well together... pity.

Perhaps there is a reason why the 'Sankey clan' is only invited to play-dates once every couple of months…
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Day 119
Jackson being entirely too quiet and the sound of porcelain rattling can only mean one thing…
Addison left the bathroom door open. Again.