late valentines day gift was perfect timing
Wednesday, Mar. 05, 2003
So...he picked me up. (late) He gave me a ride. I got to the apartment
and realized I had nothing to feed Bucky for dinner because without a car
I haven't made it to the grocery store. So I decided like the brave girl
that I am to head to the restaurant Rick works for to get Bucky some dinner
quickly since it's around the corner and c'mon...it's free! So....ex drives
me there unsuspecting of anything since he doesn't know where Rick works,
and Bucky knows that his new friend Rick works there, and he comes in with me.
So...in we go, ex stays in his Jeep waiting. So then...of course Rick walks
away to come talk to me, and I ask him the following..
"Why don't you come outside and shake his hand, and show him how to be mature about all of this?"
He replies..."Are you sure?"
I say "yes."
Rick calmly walks outside towards the ex's Jeep and extends his hand. I do the calm mannerly introduction even though they both know who the other is. And it goes like this...
Me - "Rick this is ####, #### this is Rick."
Rick - "I've heard a lot about you."
Ex - "Half of it is probably true, but the other half probably isn't."
This is where I bite my tongue and refuse to say a word. And I know some other things were said there, but I don't remember any of it, I just remember wanting to hug Rick for being so gracious, being so sweet, being so mature and kind despite my knowledge that ex surely can't be one of his favorite people in the world since I've run to him a half a dozen times in tears, with injuries, in agony over something that has transpired. He still stood there calmly being polite and quite congenial. I was in awe, I wanted to express to him that there are no words for me to ever say how much I admire him as a man.
They shake hands. Bucky is in the back of the Jeep now...smiling.
And all I really wanted from that was for my son to see that someone can act like an adult and be mature. What I wanted to do, Rick accomplished tenfold. He allowed someone, not just anyone, but someone that could be considered threatening to most, to give me a ride home, to come pick up some dinner for my child, and he smiled all the while.
When he came home from work tonight, I hugged him, told him he's the most amazing guy. I don't know if he really got what I was trying to say. I hope he reads this...if you're reading this baby, I love you.
And so now I am feeling happier because I just had a nice dose of Buckytime! He made me a gift for Valentines Day. (love how his father makes sure it's on time..NOT! ha!) But that is besides the point here. The child made a plaque that says "I love you" and has nails hammered into it in a heart shape. He then braided 3 shades of cross stitch floss (yeah another thing of mine I didn't get and don't understand why he'd want!) in and out and through the nails to make a pattern on them. He also painted it white, cut out the wood himself, put a hanger on the back of it, and gave it to me with a giant blueeyed boy smile that had dimples hanging off of it like a warm waffle oozing maple syrup in the fall.
We were watching Home Alone 2 with Ricks brother Randy (who is also really so great to my son even though there's no reason for him to do so except that whoever raised these boys knew how to raise some fine men!) when his Daddy called saying he was around the corner, his eyes filled up with tears and when we walked out the door and down the elevator his eyelids gave out underneath the weight of all his sadness. And we hugged in the elevator, and then he walked hand in hand with his Daddy farther and farther out of my sight. And like always right when I thought that I wouldn't see his face again for too many hours, he raced back for one last hug. One last big hug. And the crack that was splitting in my heart watching him walk away mended when his arms reached around my neck and he said, "I can't wait to see you tomorrow Mommy."
-PoeticaL
