Sunday, June 28, 2009

Surviving without Mo


Mo went off to do good deeds last week, leaving her only daughter and only known husband to fend for themselves. We looked in the fridge, saw three slices of hard salami, two packages of Arby's Sauce and a six-pack of forlorn, long-neglected, non-alcoholic beer. We wept.

We looked a Lulu, sized up who would win in a starvation match and surrendered. We called Grandma in for reinforcements. She arrived from Maine just in time. Hope was wearing Scrabble tiles for diapers and bottle caps for hearing aids. In two days, I lost 45 pounds, grew a beard and began delightful conversations with a volleyball I called Wilson. 

Things are tough around here without Mo. 

Actually, her semi-annual, volunteer trip as a camp counselor in Elk Rapids -- I'm sure she's champing at the bit to dish details -- was planned months ago, as was my mother's visit.

Her timing was great. The weather was terrific, the Detroit scandals are in full flower and Hope was in mighty fine spirits. She's doing so much so quickly these days, it's hard to keep score.

Suddenly, our cuddly lap pal needs to move. A few weeks ago, she began to cruise, and now there's no stopping her. She has several hobbies, including a nifty game my mother taught her called "Librarian" that involves scampering from one side of a bookshelf to another and knocking off all the titles except one, David Simon's excellent "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood." 

She stops and flips all the pages, either fascinated by the gritty tale of urban decline or the book's spiffy red cover. We call another game "Go Get the Remote Control." It is similar to "Librarian" but involves a remote control, a leather couch and a noticeable lack of detail about the economics of the heroin trade.

Another new hobby is something called "Look at that Beautiful Creature in the Mirror." I taught her that one. It involves staring at the most beautiful creature in the mirror, waving rather coquettishly and coyly, having difficulty containing your excitement, waving your arms in joy and breaking into hysterical laughter. It took me 10 years to perfect the game. Hope has mastered it in a month. Smart cookie.

While Mo did good deeds, we ventured north for a mini-getaway to Michigan's kitschy Little Bavaria for 24 hours of eating chicken dinners and bratwurst, riding in paddle boats, swimming and looking at ourselves in the mirror and laughing with delight.

Great times. Big Mo is back and we are so happy we broke from the revelry to stop at the world's largest Christmas store to buy her a taco ornament with an inscription showing how much we missed her.  It reads, "Big Mo's Taco."

My mom left town on Saturday, and we were all very sad, but we see her in three weeks for another vacation. That makes us so happy we need to head soon to the bookshelf.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great video! The pictures are
so cute. Looks like Grandma Kurth had a fun time with Hope! Can't wait to see Maureen's taco ornament. It sounds like another classic!

Love to all, we miss you.
Clem, Beef and Molly
xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Great stuff! If she isn't the cutest thing ever, I'll eat my camera. It was such a gift to spend so much time with her -- and you, of course -- and this helps fill the gap where she (and you, of course) aren't, now that I'm home.

P.S. I'll take the blame for setting her in front of the books, but she invented the library game on her own. It will soon be time for higher shelves!

Love from Grandma K.

Misty said...

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!! love the video and the post. glad that you all survived without mo! :) i am amazed at all that hope is doing!

beth said...

Love the swimming pics. Hope looks like she's having so much fun! As for you, buddy, you need to even up that Farmer's Tan. See you in a few weeks! Woot!

Jan said...

Wow -- is she adorable or what?? And busy, busy, busy, grabbing at everything. Very cool. I bet Mo practially gobbled her up when she got home. Hope has come so far...keep up the great work, Mom and Dad.

Rachelle said...

Congrats on another fantastic video! Hope is doing so much - she is progressing by leaps and bounds! Loved your post - glad Mo had a good trip. I am very jealous of her taco!

Anonymous said...

"Big Hope" saw the video and couldn't figure out how to post her comment, which was this:

"Looks like quite a bit of thriving midst the surviving!Thanks for sharing this wonderful multi- faceted fast paced vignette of little Hope in action, not to mention Dad and Grandma!!
Elder Hope"

Grandma K.

suna said...

lovely slide show.

Deni aka Mrs Chicken said...

she is just so adorable and has come along way in the last couple of months - its been ages since i have been able to get on to my blog and catch up with how everyone is going - it was great to watch this little video :)

Becky said...

that's an awesome video! hope is doing so great!