Melanie, ready for church on Sunday morning
Remember that line from the movie Cast Away where Tom Hanks's character, Chuck Noland, sets his watch (the one his girlfriend, Kelly, gave him for Christmas), and announces that he's on Kelly Time?
Well, even if you don't, we are on Melly Time.
As in, our granddaughter Melanie is here visiting with us by herself, until Thanksgiving when the rest of her family will join us.
(I haven't forgotten that I owe you more posts about our recent trip, but time is moving quickly and before it gets away from me altogether, I wanted to tell you about this.)
On Saturday TG and I drove up to Fort Mill, South Carolina, on the North Carolina line, and met Stephanie and Melly at the Cracker Barrel.
(Yes, Essie was there! I was able to hug her neck).
We had an early supper and then Melly's stuff was loaded into our vehicle and Stephanie left to drive home by herself and Melanie came with us.
Joel, my son-in-law, let me know recently that Stephanie could probably use a wee break from the constant care of Melanie, who will turn eighteen on the shortest day of this year.
Melly is a joy and we all adore her. The fact remains, though, that she can be a lot of work. Our Steph rarely if ever has a day, or even part of a day, where her eldest child is not serving as her mother's shadow.
Dagny did not get the memo about wearing black and white
So I said well, I would love some time with Melly to myself, which has not happened since the summer of 2017.
(In the intervening years, Melanie developed a few behavioral issues that made her mom reluctant to send her to me.)
But I assured Stephanie that I am not afraid of anything Melanie can or will do, and I said that I would love to have her with me for as long as her parents could part with her.
(As it happens, my first grandchild has behaved like an angel; I think that like most kids, she saves the drama for her mama.)
In fact, she is just about the most agreeable person I have ever hung out with.
She eats (with great enthusiasm) whatever I serve her, goes to bed early and sleeps for twelve hours, and does not talk back.
(That's because she does not talk at all except to say yes and no at the appropriate times. And you have to know what Melanie's yesses and nos sound like, to catch her meaning.)
After a full day yesterday which included going to church twice, today we made a list of all the things we needed to accomplish.
So far we have made the beds, had our breakfast/coffee time, cleaned the kitchen to include sweeping the floor, taken a walk, done some laundry, and tidied up a few rooms that needed it.
These are just a few of the things Susan gave to Melanie
As each thing gets done, we strike it off our list.
One thing was to write this blog post, so write it I am and strike it I will. Melanie gets a big kick out of the striking process.
Yesterday during Sunday morning service, it was noted that all of us girls except Dagny had worn black and white.
(It was not planned; blanc noir is a popular color motif amongst the ladies in our family.)
So after church, TG was pressganged into taking a picture of all of us. For posterity and to mark Melly's fall visit.
On Sunday evening Melly had a surprise. A friend who sits near us with her husband and their own special-needs daughter, Kayla, brought Melanie a gift bag full of crafty things to occupy one such as Melanie.
There was construction paper (to make paper chains to decorate for Thanksgiving), stickers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, glue sticks, small craft kits, and other goodies.
Was that not the most thoughtful thing for my friend Susan to do?
Susan and Melanie
She knows what the caregivers of a disabled adult have to deal with, as she has filled that office for her own child, for thirty years.
Susan and Stephanie have become acquainted and had a few heart-to-heart chats over time, and Susan has been a help to Stephanie.
So now we'll see if I can convince Melanie to engage in some creative play time after our chores are completed.
Wish me luck.
And that is all for now except to say, what are you up to?
=0=0=0=
Happy Monday
