You could see the recognition, and the distress, dawn across his face. Whatever it was, it was not something he liked. The stubby pink plunger forced the offending morsel out from between his down-turned lips. “Do’ wan-it,” came the plaintive, half formed sentence, as he pushed the plate across the dining room table.
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At long last the kids were quiet, and Mark had finished enough tasks that he felt justified going to bed. Midnight had long past, and soon someone would be asking, “Daddy, what’s for breakfast?”
Closing his eyes, he felt thankful for today and overwhelmed at the prospect of tomorrow. He had never imagined parenting alone.
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Balancing on his toes, four year old Timmy stretched his left arm as far as it would reach toward the artifact glimmering and twinkling atop the craft supplies in the corner. As he walked away, proudly clutching his shiny, new treasure, the baskets crashed to the floor behind him spilling their contents across the room.
I was speechless. I knew this day would come eventually, and still I wasn’t ready for it. I thought there’d be some kind of build up, something that made the moment special; yet Christopher just popped the question one morning in between bites of Cap’n Crunch.
“So, how do babies get inside the mommy’s tummy?”
Tommy’s first week of kindergarten had been great. He had made a ton of new friends in class and at recess.
In the hall, waiting for the bus, a fourth-grader bumped into Tommy, knocking him down. “Oops… Sorry, kid.” As he walked away laughing Tommy realized that some people didn’t want to be friends.
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Luke rubs his tired eyes as he wanders aimlessly around the living room. On his way past the couch his attention is ensnared by a soft and snuggly trap. Yellow ducks smile at him from a fleecy field of turquoise.
“Duckies!”
“Ni’ night!” he cries running for the stairs with his blanket under his arm.
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“Thank heavens! I didn’t know what I was going to do about tomorrow’s party.”
“Couple screws left is all. There… I’ll turn the power back on, and you can test it.”
*****
“Sandy, Johnny’s cake is amazing! I’ll be asking you for help with Derek’s sixth next month.”
“Thank you, though I didn’t do it alone…”
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I liquidated my investments long ago. The real estate holdings went not long afterwards. Now I slowly placed the last of my cash, one bill at a time, into the gleeful hands of the man sitting across the table from me.
I was finished… washed up… not a penny left to my name.
Freakin’ Monopoly!
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“I don’t know…”
“Please, mom. Look, it’s just gonna be me and Chris and Dave, and Dave’s sister, Beth, and a couple of her friends. We’re gonna watch movies and play cards. That’s it.”
“Ohhh… fine. You can go to the party.” As the words passed her lips, an ominous feeling settled into her chest.
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“George, your father and I are getting a divorce. It’s not your fault; you didn’t do anything wrong. We’ve just fallen out of love with one another. Do you understand?”
With that each of the million memories that comprised George’s childhood separated from one another leaving him adrift on a barren ice flow of despair.
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