Ah…. children. A friend told me, when Tywana was pregnant with Kayla, it is like taking your heart out of your body and letting it out into the world, vulnerable to be ripped apart. She was right.
I am so proud of Kayla. When Shayna passed we talked about her transferring to somewhere closer to home, we set up counseling for her at UT, we had her roommate promise to keep an eye on her. Not only was she dealing with the sudden passing of her best friend and sister, she is in a really tough major taking probably her most stressful course load. Today, she is done. She has made it through the year. She’s coming home. What a strong and capable woman she is becoming.
Friday night the car broke down. Ty and I scrambled to get the tow truck there and to make arrangements to get it to the dealership. The next day I started calling the dealership to try to make arrangements for Kayla to retrieve her wallet that she had left in the car. I get it all worked out and then I can’t reach Kayla for more than three hours. She’s sleeping in, not a care in the world. I finally reach her, tell her how to get her wallet back and that I’ve taken care of talking to the service department about the car. I’m pressing these guys to get it done because I think her finals are over on Wednesday since I was told that is the day she’s coming home. Actually, her finals are over Tuesday. She’s just decided she’s not coming home until Wednesday.
Tuesday rolls around and the part has come in for the car. It’s going to be cutting it close to have it ready to go by Wednesday morning so she can drive it home. I press them to get it done. I then make arrangements for them to come pick Kayla up on campus. I text Kayla and give her the arrangements, tell her it’s already paid for. All she has to do is call Tom in service and tell them where and when to pick her up.
Today it’s Wednesday. I’m excited about seeing Kayla today, but she doesn’t like it when we ask too many questions. I don’t know what time she’s planning to start the drive home. She’s not an early morning person and I assume she hasn’t packed much and certainly not the car since she doesn’t have it. I text her and find out she is on the way to the dealership in the courtesy car. It’s still pretty early, maybe she will be home early afternoon, by dinner? Tywana and I discuss what we will do for dinner, if she’s here. Tywana has really done a great job of learning how to let go. Normally, she would be pressing Kayla for the precise minute she’s going to get on the road, but she has learned Kayla doesn’t operate that way. You can’t press her for a time. So, Tywana settles for Kayla will text when she’s leaving.
A good friend from Facebook is in town and invites me out for a long lunch. Rich is a guy I’ve met less than half a dozen times face-to-face, but he feels like family. There are only a handful of people on the planet I can have conversations like this with. It’s good to have him here and I can take my mind off of wondering when Kayla will be home for a while. He laughs at me as I do mention a few times “I wonder if she’s on the road yet” because it would just like her to have forgotten to text us to tell us she is.
Tywana does a great job of exercising patience. We haven’t calls to see where Kayla is. It’s now well after three o’clock. She must be on the road. I’m in my office working when Tywana comes up the stairs and announces “Well, Kayla isn’t coming home today.” My heart skips a beat. “What has gone wrong now?” I think. I was in my office working when Tywana announced Shayna had rheumatoid arthritis. I remember the moment. I was in my office when she announced Shayna wasn’t breathing. Has Kayla been in an accident? Did the car stop running because the repair didn’t work? Nope. Kayla stayed out late with her friends last night. She’s tired today, so she decided to take a nap. Now it’s gotten late enough she would just like to come home tomorrow.
I’m pissed. But, what can I say? What can I do? She’s 19. Legally an adult. I scrambled to get the car done so she could be home as early as possible, but she’d rather stay there. I texted her many times this morning. She never even mentioned the possibility she was going to stay another night. I bite my tongue. OK. Guess we’ll see her tomorrow…
