I thought about Julianna during the 45 minutes that I was suppose to be listening to some audiobook on my ipod. The book was not boring, I was just distracted by the fact that Julianna should be here with us by now. Somehow, I thought that by this weekend, we would all be together.
Energized more than usual, I quickly got ready for the older kids' swim meet which began at 8:30am. Kenny left with the swimmers in the first vehicle as we typically do. Angelo and I followed about 30 minutes later once we had everything packed and ready. Angelo was being quite stubborn this morning. He kept sitting down on the garage floor, which was dirty, and he refused to get up. As I hurriedly placed all our stuff in the vehicle, remembering to take our camera, and other items that I usually forget, Angelo would plop himself down on the floor with a Barney book each time that I would stand him up. I finally said in a very firm voice with a stern face, "That's enough, Angelo. Mommy's getting upset with you. Now, stop it!" As I placed Angelo into his carseat, buckled him, and was turning away, he said " uhn, uhn,...Mmmom (his way of getting my attention)..." and then he signed "sorry". That put me to shame!
This meet happened to be an "away" meet which means that our volunteering is limited. Kenny and I got to watch the entire meet with Angelo. We even recorded some of the kids' races. At one point mid-way through the meet as the sun was shining and the breeze was faint, I leaned over to Kenny and said, "I love swim meets. We are here with all of our children and we get to enjoy and share in their activity with them." Kenny reminded me, "All of our children are not here!" That was the first dose of tears for me on this Saturday. Later, Kenny handed me his headphones to listen to a favorite Billy Joel tune that I had not heard in some time. That, too, brought tears to my eyes.
We arrived home to eat a late lunch/early dinner so that we could go to Mass at 4:00pm. At the dinner table, we planned our events for the weekend, including our altogether meal for Sunday. Again, mistakenly I said, "Breakfast on Sunday will be the only chance for all of us to eat together." Kenny corrected me and acknowledged that Julianna is not here yet....another sigh and wave of disappointment washed over me.
Our Mass attendance was at a visiting parish, so we really did not know others in the church. I couldn't help but to be proud of all of our children and the special way that each one of them attended to Angelo as he crawled from lap to lap. I imagined us a year from now with Julianna here and how she would be seeking the attention that Angelo and Vincent look for each time we are all together. I wonder if she'll like going to church as much as Angelo does.
With Dom off to work, Kenny working on a home remodeling project, and Francesca engaged with one of her friends, Vincent reminded me once we arrived home that I owed him a "gorilla." A "gorilla" is a huge mixing bowl filled with eight oversized scoops of icecream, two bananas, six toppings, whipped cream, and cherries. I promised this to Vincent as a result of his excellent baseball playing this spring. Vinnie, Angelo, Gabby, and I headed to the ice cream shop for the treat. We got four spoons, our picture taken for the wall, and were unable to finish the whole bowl. When we arrived home...Gabby felt like -blah. Vincent said he had a fat belly. Angelo was dismal even at bedtime...I think he had a belly ache. We agreed that we would buy another "gorilla" when Julianna arrives. We'll need more spoons the next time! Ugh!
John Phillip Sousa and George Gershwin music awaits us tomorrow, July 4, as we celebrate Independence Day. I am hopeful that I will not be as glued to checking my e-mail for messages from Victoria as I was today. After all, we probably won't hear anything until Tuesday now...