Benjamin’s best friend, Sydney, came over to play last night. Her mother Mia and I have been best friends
since kindergarten. And now we live 100 feet away from each other. Call it fate, call it destiny – whatever it is – but seeing our children play together like we did, not so long ago… is soul moving, to say the least.
Sydney, a 4-year-old who is obsessed with fairytales and princesses, decided to make mud soup in the back yard. Benjamin was her assistant. “Stir Benjamin, stir it up,” she said in the voice of a wicked witch, “We are going to make poison soup to poison your mommy and she will never wake up… never, ever.”
Benjamin complied. He’s in love.
When the soup was finally finished Sydney gave me a drink off the tip of her stick. I played dead.
“And now,” she said, “We will cover you in the soup and you’ll be asleep forever, you’ll never live happily ever after and you’ll never find your prince.” She started painting my feet with mud.
“Why won’t I find a prince?” She was freaking me out but I was listening.
“Because all of the princes are mushed together in a big onion ball!”
“Oh.”
But then she kept repeating my horrible fate, minus the onion ball, over and over again. With each stroke of the mud. “And you will never, ever live happily ever after. Your prince will never find you. You will be alone forever and ever, ever after.”
When Mia came over I told her about her daughter’s creepy curse.
“Well, she’s not a prophet,” Mia laughed.
“How do you know?” I asked.
Then she looked at me – I’m still sitting there and Sydney is still painting me – the mud is now all over my arm and some is even on my face.
“Yeah… well, maybe she is! Who knows,” she conceded. Mia and I believe in ghosts, tarot cards and all things mystical – we always have.
Later that night, long after little Benjamin had been tucked away, Kris called. I hadn’t seen him in a week and invited him over. I ran around the house, cleaning up the toys and then jumped into the shower. And there they were – my muddy feet. I’d forgotten about them.
I started scrubbing but the mud, all dry and crusty, it was still there. I grabbed a loofah. But in that moment, when my crazy single mom mind actually believed the mud would never wash off, I realized that Sydney was right.
I’ll never find my real prince if I can’t wash away the old mud. I have to quit him… immediately (besides, I have a date tomorrow night).
To be continued…
P.S. I hate to leave you hanging, but I’m utterly exhausted. You understand I’m sure…
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Yeah, sure, we understand…but you’d better give us “the rest of the story” as soon as you’ve recovered!
)
THAT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!
I love this post. This is, quite possibly, my favorite post you’ve ever written! You are learning more about yourself and that, MSM, is a beautiful thing.
And how stinkin’ cute is it that your best friend from childhood lives that close and your kids love each other. Dang, that’s just way special. So totally unscripted life. Isn’t it awesome?!
*sigh* well, you leave me no choice but to wait!
Beautifully written post. It’s funny how you can totally believe what a child will tell you. You know it’s unreasonable and yet . . .
Here from Remarkablogger by the way.
I loved her story….kids have the best imaginations…and honey, I refuse to believe that fairytales never come true….they just have to….because I said so! LOL
That is so funny. How I hope it is not true. I’d ask her how the princesses rescue the princes out of the big onion ball. So that she CAN live happily ever after!
On your note to yourself: If you’re telling yourself to quit him, it sounds like it’s time.
Plus, it also sounds like you have a new hottie to look forward to!!!
Ack, so what is the rest of the story, girly? Way to leave us hanging. But yeah, I get that totally. Unfortunately.
Well if it was that difficult getting the mud off (and yes I totally understand) no wonder you couldn’t finish the blog… and typing the in the shower, no doubt.
Can’t wait to hear about the date… I have my own date Wednesday night… although I have been told we cannot count this as our first date… so not sure what to call mine….
Don’t keep us hanging too long!
Sushi Boy hasn’t called, I may schlep myself to singles night tomorrow to make myself feel better…or worse. Did I get painted with unhappily ever after too?
Okay.
Preparing for date now. I have exactly 45 minutes. NO time to write a post… maybe later tonight? But, if that happens, it means I’m painfully sober – so small chance.
I am SO nervous because the thought of an actual date has my head spinning. No major chemistry with him when we met … but he’s a single dad and there’s a chance because there is definitely intellectual and emotional chemistry (I think). We shall see… at least I’m trying, right? You are all going to DIE when you find out how we met though – so cool.
More to come. And Hanna – THAT SUCKs. Yes, go drink yourself better with some girls.
KitKat .. can’t wait to hear about yours.
YAY for the date!
I hope it goes well for you. I might have date potential for friday…he’s a musician and he looks nice in jeans.
We’ll see…
can’t wait to hear how yours went
Your post was more heartwarming than a soap opera. Talk about the ultimate way to keep people hanging:-)
Looking for family members I stumbled upon your site,it made me remember when I was a single poppa, and did the dating game, it was hard as ones mind is fretting about the child in the minders care, I had great success by placing a personal ad in the local paper, so did not have to trawl bars and clubs . I have a 34yo son who is looking to meet someone we are based in the UK
Kids are smart that way – they know stuff!!!
Mine asked me why big people keep getting dumped? I couldnt answer him!
I hope the date went well. Don’t worry if the chemistry isn’t quite there the first time, you could be pleasantly surprised.