“This Thanksgiving will be one to remember,” Jenny thought as she gathered her family’s belongings for their trip home. They had spent a wonderful day with friends, Jim andAnne Larson, and their foster son, Sam. Other guests had included Mrs. Cunningham, Sam’s previous foster mother, and another friend, Mark Olson.
The Larson’s had just purchased Jenny’s childhood house from her as part of her late father’s estate. This Thanksgiving day had been perfect, almost.
JennyArmstrong was a single mother, whose her husband, John, had been killed in Iraq five years ago. Johnny was only a couple of months old at the time. Since then, Jenny had been raising the kids by herself, with some help from her father, but now she was totally on her own.
Her daughter, Grace, was an eight year old gifted pianist, and a very smart, self confident youngster.
Johnny, age five, had a form of autism that affected his communication skills, and he had a muscle deficiency that affected his gait. He was very intelligent and had been tested and diagnosed at Heart Springs, a diagnostic and training center in Kansas City.
Jenny and Jim had met Mark through the H.T.Academy where Johnny would receive physical therapy using horses. Johnny was also scheduled for speech classes at Heart Springs. Mark and Johnny had formed an immediate attachment with each other when they first met at theAcademy.
Today Jenny learned that Mark and her father had been good friends, and things seemed to have suddenly become very complex.
Jenny was on bereavement leave from her job at the University of Missouri in KC, while she finalized father’s estate, after he had passed a couple of months ago. With her plans to return to her job,
Johnny’s school situation, and now new connections with Mark, things seemed to have become quite complicated. Although she had been looking forward to seeing Mark again, spending time with him seemed to be more troubling than she had anticipated, due in part to Johnny’s growing attachment to him. She just needed time to think, to sort things out in her mind.
She thanked Jim andAnne for a wonderful day, said goodbye to the group, and she herded her kids to the car. Jim helped her with Johnny’s car seat. Jim had sensed something was bothering Jenny, but hesitated to ask her about it. She gave Jim a hug at the car and Jim said, “Anytime you need to talk, I am here for you.”
She replied, “Be careful, I may take you up on that.”
He squeezed her hand and said, “I am a good listener,”
Suddenly her eyes filled with tears and she said, “I know all too well that you are, and I love you for it. But sometimes, you have to figure things out for yourself.” And with that, she got into the car and left, with everyone blowing kisses.
Jim was really concerned now. He needed to talk toAnne, but not until things had quieted down. He went back into the house and helped organize Mrs. Cunningham’s departure with Sam and him taking her home. It was getting dark, and this would give Sam some needed experience with night driving for his driver’s license requirements.. Finally they were in the car and on their way. While Mrs. Cunningham was in the back seat, chatting away about how wonderful the day had been, Sam drove through the traffic of Kansas City, and Jim had a few moments to replay the events in his mind to see if he could recall anything that could have upset Jenny, but he came up empty. He decided to askAnne over a glass of wine about her observations when he got back home. Anne, Jenny and Mark had spent a lot of time in the kitchen preparing the meal together.
When they arrived at Mrs. Cunningham’s house, they walked up the steps to her front door with her and waited while she unlocked the door and they went inside with her briefly, to make sure that things were secure. Then after receiving their special hugs, went back to the car for the ride home.
Sam continued the discussion of how much he enjoyed being with all of his new found family. He was also chatting about his driver’s license and whether or not he should enroll in another high school, or just graduate since he now had enough credits to graduate, and to take online college classes. Jim was near exhaustion when they reached home, and was relieved to see that Mark’s truck was not still there. They went inside andAnne had already opened the wine and had a head start on rewinding the day. Sam said that he wanted to call Karen, his friend, and went to his room, leaving only Anne, Jim and Charlie, the dog, who also seemed to be worn out.
Jim said, “Dear, please don’t say anything. Just let me be with you and not hear words. I have heard more words today than in the last two weeks.” She looked at him and smiled, poured his glass of wine, and cuddled next to him. That was just what he needed right then. He sipped his wine and began to feel better. After a few minutes he asked, “Are you aware of anything that could have upset Jenny today?”
Surprised,Anne said “No, she didn’t seem upset to me. Quite the contrary. In fact she and Mark had a discovery earlier, that Mark and her father were quite close, and it was because of him that Mark volunteered at, and eventually bought theAcademy. She seemed to be quite taken by him, or so it seemed to me. He is such a nice young man, and Johnny seems to have made an attachment with him.”
Things were beginning to come into focus for Jim, withAnne’s information. The conversation continued afterAnne and Jim had gone to bed for a short while, untilAnne could hear the soft snoring
sounds and smiled, knowing that their talk was over for now, but there would be a continuation of the discussion tomorrow.
By the time Jenny got home, got the kids bathed, and ready for bed, she was nearing exhaustion. It was wonderful having a family to share the holiday with, but she seemed to have experienced an over stimulation of her emotions, concerning Mark. She wanted to protect her kids from losing another person in their young lives if for some reason, Mark might not be there long term. On the other hand, she wondered if she could be sacrificing some needed adult companionship or more in her life by exercising too much caution. She would have to worry about this tomorrow. Tonight she just needed sleep, and it didn’t take long.