I'm Lindsay Ferrier, a Nashville writer with a passion for family travel, exploring Tennessee, and raising kids without losing my mind in the process. This is where I share my discoveries, along with occasional deep thoughts, pop culture tangents and a sprinkling of snark. Want to get in touch? Use the CONTACT form at the top of the page.
August 18, 2009
>About a half-hour after I’ve taken Punky to kindergarten, it starts.
“Where Punky go?”
I look down. My two-year-old son is staring up at me, palms lifted in supplication.
“Honey, Punky is at kindergarten,” I reply. “Remember? We took her to school.”
“Oh,” he says softly. He thinks for a moment, and then gallops off to another toy or book or a few more minutes in front of the television where, at his insistence, “Speed Racer” plays on continuous loop.
But it’s never too long before he returns.
“Mommy?” he asks.
“Yes, Bruiser?”
“Where Punky go?”
It’s as if he believes in his two-year-old mind that if he asks enough times, at some point I’ll have the answer he’s waiting to hear.
“Why, she’s in the playroom, of course,” he wants me to say, or, “She’s playing in your room. Do you want to go see her?”
Once he grows tired of asking for Punky, he simply runs to the window, looking out into our driveway for any clues to her return.
“Punky,” he’ll say softly. “Punnnn-keeeeeee.”
But Punky never answers.
Yesterday, I dropped Punky off at school and then took my husband to work. As we chatted in the car, Bruiser sat in the backseat alone, listening.
“Mommy?” he said finally.
“Yes, Bruiser?”
He paused, laboring to think of the right words. “You…. go…. pick up…. Punky…. now.”
I laughed, glancing at Hubs, even as tears filled my eyes.
Everyone asks me how Punky is handling the transition to kindergarten. Or they want to know how I’m managing. We’re both fine, I tell them. Punky is blossoming and excited and as long as that’s happening, I’m happy, too.
But hardly anyone asks how Bruiser is doing. And the truth is, I think he’s taking the absence of his very best friend and playmate hardest of all.
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