Looking Behind the Curtain: The Arrival of the “Adult Adult”

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

What good things happened this week? And, remind yourself: how do you say hello, nice to meet you, thank you, sorry, and bye in the language you chose from day 13?

I’ve already shared the logistics of our “Christmas Pivot” and the icy roads that came with it, but looking back at this week through the lens of today’s prompt, I’m struck by something deeper than just the travel schedule. It’s the shift in the dynamic—the moment the “magic” of childhood turns into the solid reality of adulthood.

Monday, I picked up Kid 1 from his cousin’s house. I was initially a bit thrown off; I was originally supposed to meet his uncle, Anton, with him on Sunday. However, it turned into a productive day—he helped me fix the mailbox and install a new cover on Fred’s hot tub.

On Tuesday, I put Kid 1 to work again. We were originally going to take my mother’s wheelchair ramps apart, assuming we’d leave them out for someone to pick up or list them on Facebook Marketplace. As we started disassembling the ramp, we realized just how warped the wood was, so we decided to throw it away. Thankfully, garbage day was Wednesday. (Of course, if anyone decided they wanted it for themselves, they could pick it up at their own risk!)

The craziest thing is that this wasn’t necessarily a project we set out to do. Phred and I had talked about removing the ramp, and one of us might have made a half-hearted remark about having Kid 1 help when he got here. I mentioned it to him, and he just said, “Let’s do it.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Tuesday morning, Kid 1 spoke briefly with his mom, X1. He asked her if it would be okay if they met on the 26th instead of the 25th. The fact that he wanted to stay an extra day with me made me feel good.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve. Kid 1 actually slept most of the day. He was concerned he may have been exposed to something, as his cousin’s roommate was ill, but I wonder if it was more of an ADHD thing. Kid 1 has endless energy—he was always active in sports like swimming, tae kwon do, and gymnastics. But when he finally tires out, he crashes. HARD. I thought he was sick initially, but then I remembered him doing something similar on our road trip to meet his mom.

Christmas was Thursday. Again, we got a late start to opening presents. I didn’t really mind, however, as this has always been the norm with Kid 1. Since he’s 18, he’s fully aware of the truth about Santa. While that takes away some of the magic, last year he actually helped me prepare things for Kid 2 on Christmas Eve. I think he enjoyed finally getting a look “behind the curtain” like that.

Our revised plan to leave Friday morning to meet X1 got derailed by the weather. In a last-minute decision, Kid 1 and I decided to hit the road on Christmas night to avoid an ice storm forecast for the Great Lakes region—Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

With very little lead time, we packed quickly and got moving. We drove through the night, with Kid 1 taking on the lion’s share of the driving. We arrived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, around 10:00 AM Friday morning. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I picked up Kid 2 on Saturday to begin my half of the Christmas vacation. I suppose it was a little bit of a cruel twist of fate that both boys are missing each other by just under two days. But I understand that these things happen, especially with a child who is now technically an adult adult at 18. Kid 1 doesn’t have to adhere to a parental visitation schedule anymore; he has his own life.

We’ve known all along they would just miss each other. I already explained to Kid 2 that we’ll have to make a trip out to Kid 1’s college later this winter or early spring to visit him.

And now, Sunday is “Christmas, Part Two.” That’s what I’ve taken to calling it, as they get a Christmas with both their mothers and me. Christmas is always the 25th, but “Part Two” is the follow-up with whichever parent has the boys for the second half of the break.

Gifts are now in place for Kid 2 after I reprised my role as Santa early this morning. It’s time to see what the rest of the holiday holds for us.

Arabic Practice (from the Day 13 prompt):

I like that The Coffee Monsterz created a follow-up like this. It makes it feel like something I actually need to do now, instead of just looking it up for the sake of a prompt. Maybe I’ll actually make a point to learn Arabic for real!

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