Momnesia

Give a Little Love... You Get it Back, I Promise

AUGUSTA, GA - Emmie and I spent the weekend bopping between Art 45 at the Metro Spirit offices and the Arts in the Heart festival grounds. It was so hot that I ripped off my clothes and took cold showers each day when I got home. It was so humid that my still-damp-from-the-shower hair never quite dried.

About 5:30 today, I looked at Emmie's beet red face. She had spent at least an hour jumping in the inflatables, another hour making crafts in the childrens area, and then an hour making clay pots and jumping in and out of mud puddles with other children. I knew from the set of her eyes that it was time to go. I also knew that she would fight me on it.

"Emmie? You ready to get a drink?" I said. She nodded enthusiastically. I steered her toward the hot dog tent, where her eyes grew intent at the sight of the giant pile of aluminum foil cylinders.

"Mama?" She looked up at me.
"Yes," I said, before she even asked, and handed her a dollar.

She dotted her hot dog with too much ketchup, we grabbed a bottle of water, loaded up all our crap and headed towards 8th Street.

"Wait!" she gasped at the entrance tables, and set her load down.

Briefly, she rested her cheek on the cool, plastic table top, then raised her head and took an enormous bite of her hot dog. She closed her eyes and chewed, then took another bite, sighed, and washed it down with about half the bottle of water.

I watched her, worried that maybe I had pushed her too far in the heat and excitement of the weekend. She'd yet to melt down, and had only disobeyed one order all weekend. That had garnered her a brief time-out just a half hour ago. Was it time for her manners to crack under the strain? Or, worse, since I could see some heat rash forming on the pale, delicate underskin of her arms, was she nearing heat exhaustion?

She finished gulping her water, set everything back down, leaned over, and gave me a hug.

"Danks, mama, for getting me dis little hot dog. It was jus' what I needed!"

We tossed our trash, hobbled back to the car without incident, and I beamed with pride as she chattered good-naturedly the whole way.