Before the pandemic, we would travel to visit my parents three to four times a year: summer, Thanksgiving, New Year, and often a visit in the spring. So combined with my parents coming to visit, we saw them quite often.
We traveled to see my parents in the summer of 2019. Lucas wasn’t born yet, and it was a nice trip. Lucas was born in early December, and my parents came and visited. That was the last time I saw them until three weeks ago.
It was a beautiful visit. The fact that we were there during the hottest recorded heatwave really didn’t feel like it hindered our trip that much. We were fortunate to have air conditioning and had places we could that were air-conditioned.
A year and a half is a long time. It was interesting how Ollie was thinking about his cousin. He told me that he had to prepare to see her. Ollie had talked to her over Zoom a couple of times, and he told me that it was awkward. I assured him that Zoom meetings are also uncomfortable for me. I think Ollie just wasn’t sure what it would be like to see her and even how to greet her after all of this time. I found out that she had the same concerns. She wondered if Ollie was taller than her or what kind of things they could play now that they were older. I assured Ollie that what his anxiety was not unique. When he saw his cousin, they barely acknowledge each other, but before I knew it, they were talking and playing as if no time had passed at all.
My parents were worried that Lucas would react to them. They last saw him, he was a couple of days old. Now Lucas is a year and a half old. The development differences between those ages are incredible. When they last saw Lucas, he was barely opening his eyes and focusing. Now Lucas is walking, expressing himself through gestures and sounds, and interacts with people and the world.
If my parents said hello to Lucas in the airport and cried, it wouldn’t be a sign of anything wrong.
Babies coming off a plane are often cranky. My parents could have seen him every single day for the past year and a half and approached him at the airport, and he could cry at them. Young children don’t put on fake emotions for social customs. If a baby is in a bad mood, they show it to you. That bad mood isn’t necessarily a reflection of how they feel about you.
Once again Lucas was the baby we all needed in this most challenging time. When my mom and dad leaned over and looked into the stroller to say hello to Lucas, he smiled at them. I like to think that Lucas felt my parents' unconditional love across over two thousand miles over the time they were apart. So, of course, he knew them when he saw them.
There are many great things to process about this trip. I’m so happy that it happened and that my children's time with my parents was filled with love and joy.
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