Visitors Come, Agatha Goes

Edith has had a busy week of receiving my coworkers from around the country. The leadership team of the division I work for all came to town for a work meetup and since a number of them happen to be friends of mine, they very kindly came down to Kyle to see me. (Well, they came to see Edith. But they did not mind if I was also here.) Edith was predictably delighted to have more people show up to pay her homage, and she responded by bossing them all around. First, she made one friend march all over the back yard behind her; whenever he stopped following her around, she would turn back and say “Come!” imperiously and he would hustle to keep up. Then, three other friends came during a weekday so we went down to the playground to find Edith (who has a very busy routine during the week that cannot be put aside for mere socializing), and the very second that she had been introduced to them, she began to dance, and raised her arms to indicate that they, too, should dance. We all did so, in a circle around her, and whenever one of them stopped dancing, she stopped dead in front of them and pointed at them sternly until they began to dance again. The dancing went on for much longer than any of them thought that it would, and then everyone was ushered over to the play structure and made to go down the slide repeatedly.

I really enjoyed seeing all my colleagues — I had not seen most of them since before the pandemic. It was a little difficult to catch up much since they were so busy carrying out my daughter’s commands, but we did get a little visiting in where we could.

Also last weekend, Edith went to a birthday party at her nanny’s house for her (our nanny’s) three-year-old grandson and she got to take a whack at her first piñata! She was more interested in investigating the piñata than whacking it really, but everyone was very supportive and celebratory of her efforts nonetheless. She didn’t really understand that the prizes came from the piñata and had to be helped to collect them, but because she was the second youngest child in attendance everyone was very happy to help her and she ended up with quite a lot. She also enjoyed the cake and said “more cake?” hopefully for the rest of the evening, when we had come home from the party.

This week, we’ve suffered a minor tragedy. Agatha the lamb has gone missing. I suspect she went out to the park, which she isn’t supposed to do, and was left behind and kidnapped. I had always had a feeling this might happen — it’s occurred to me a few times to let our nanny know that Agatha is strictly an indoor lamb, really, and cannot handle herself outside the way that certain Jojos are able to do, but I never got around to it, and now she is out there in the wide world and who knows what has befallen her. Edith loves Agatha when she’s present, but she takes her for granted. If Jojo went missing, we would have to hire a private investigator to bring him back again, but Edith is unlikely to take much notice of Agatha’s departure. But I am bereft! I can hardly think about it; it is not at all out of the realm of possibility that I will cry real tears over Agatha sometime this weekend (I am still in denial and telling myself she might be found under a piece of furniture eventually). I could of course simply buy another Agatha, but…it wouldn’t be Agatha! And this is a disturbing thing to ponder, that I have formed a sentimental attachment not only to a particular object but to a particular iteration of that object, such that an identical Agatha would only depress me further. I am nearly 42 and this does not seem developmentally appropriate.