Nearly Normal
I decided to take the train a day early, just in case. It was a relatively uneventful train ride, except for the classic delay that meant I ended up taking an almost hundred euro taxi ride up to your village. I still managed to arrive before ten, and promptly went to bed. The next day, I awoke slightly later than I wanted to, but slightly earlier than I generally had in the past. I remember the sunrise, its pink glow thrown over the hill on the opposite side of the valley like a light blanket.
I started the day by brewing some coffee in the ever-so-luxurious all-in-one coffee maker, toaster, and water kettle. Iâve never been impressed that much by any sort of machine that purports to do many things at once, but this one seems to do alright. I fired up my laptop and logged into work. My work would probably seem quite strange to you. I work in an entirely virtual realm. Nothing I produce in the confines of my job exists in the physical world. I get paid to push electrons around in a particular manner, and interpret them as numbers or colors on a screen.
A coffee pot later I still had not done any work for the day. I felt tired and distracted, and ended up watching videos on youtube of air crash investigation and analysis. I have no idea why these types of videos have captivated my interest lately, but they have. I canât get enough of them. I can watch them for hours. And this I did instead of work. That is, until about half hour before you were scheduled to arrive, and then I managed to get a few small work things done. I then shut my laptop, put on another pot of coffee, and made sure the apartment looked presentable.
Right on time at half past the hour, you rang the doorbell. I took a deep breath, and opened the door. I am always so excited to see you, yet somehow every time I am also apprehensive and nervous. You walked confidently into my apartment and quickly asked what I had brought you. I told you I had brought you back a shirt from Grandma and Grandpa in the USA.
You asked if that was all I had in the way of presents, and seemed a bit disappointed when I confirmed that the shirt was indeed all I had this time. Your reaction was completely understandable, as the last time we had seen each other, you had both Christmas and birthday presents to open. Nonetheless, you wanted to see the shirt right away, and I pulled it out of my bag. On the shirt was a rooster in a pirate hat and eye patch, which you quite liked.
Through the course of the visit, we played with toys, chatted, and watched various videos. The new (to me) âshow with the mouseâ was the highlight though, which I wouldnât have thought of were it not for the supervisorâs suggestion. I had always thought that the show was an animated children's show that somehow involved a mouse, not an educational childrens show that is actually quite entertaining. You picked out several clips that you wanted to watch.
One of the ones we watched together was about airport firefighting, specifically about the specialized fire trucks on hand at airports. You were fascinated by it, and, as you were watching, added your own narration and explanation to what was being shown, which I loved. Yet another one we watched detailed the work of the specialized crews that fly out to wind turbine parks in the ocean to make repairs and carry out maintenance. The show is unique, in that it explains complicated topics in an entertaining manner geared towards children, without any sort of overly-babyish tone or annoying gimmicks.
After watching a handful of clips from the show, it was time to get you packed up and ready to be picked up. While we were doing this, the supervisor and I explained that we would be seeing you next week already. The first thing out of your mouth was something to the effect of âReally? I need a break from you!â You said it in such a casual adult manner that I couldnât help but smile. After telling you that yes I indeed would be coming again next week, your tone changed and then you remarked âDaddy is worth his weight in gold to me.â You also said this quite casually, but I donât imagine Iâll ever forget you saying those words.