it’s a tough day for sebastian.
annie has left the building, and hong kong.
annie. yes, ringletted, cheerleading, lovely annie, 33.33 % of the sebastian, adam and annie trio.
sebastian has known annie is moving for about one month now, and he figured she was moving from the building, or going on a holiday like a lot of people do at Christmas. guess again, kitten. nope, she’s going back to aus.
to give annie a royal send off, saturday night magnificent and i invited annie and adam to spend the night. the evening started with annie jumping into the bath with sebastian and racing around with him in the tub until adam arrived. at which point, everyone in their pajamas they sat down and ate a pizza, shared with asheligh, adam’s younger sister and the triplets. and then we set the kids up in the playroom, where the guests selected the evening’s viewing: star wars and superman (chris reeve version).
they were very good, and at 8.30pm i brought out the bedding and they happily laid down. every too often someone would get out of bed with the report like,
"tess, adam hurt his elbow"
"tess, sebastian pinched me"
"mummy, annie drank some of my ribena"
"tess, annie choked on some popcorn but she didn’t vomit."
and magnificent and i would nod, and look at each other. adam’s mum came up for a bit, to hug adam goodnight and during that time the kids sometimes directed their newsflashes to her. and she nodded and we continued talking.
popcorn in bed time, and that was a bit of a hit as well. three bowls so no fights.
then we had the big "we’re having pancakes in the morning but you’re not" discussion which had to go two against one in every combination and permutation. which involved each kid racing into our room to check they would indeed, be eating pancakes come morning. after child number three came into our room we informed the amigos that unless behaviour improved there would be NO pancakes come the morning.
around 9.15 i realised this three kids one bed wasn’t working and got in there and divided them all up. annie volunteered for the sofa, and i separated seb and adam. 15 minutes later the movie was off, annie was sleeping happily and adam and sebbie were whispering contendedly. when they weren’t coming to see me, or doing one of their 1,000 wees.
"tess, why do you say poopers instead of poo?"
"i’m not really sure."
"mum, adam is scared but he isn’t anymore."
"well, that’s good. goodnight, sebastian."
finally it got to the point (at 11pm, i don’t think i am being unreasonable here!) where i said to the boys, "you are not listening to me when i tell you to stop talking and go to sleep. so what you are saying is that you want me to call adam’s dad and get him to come and get adam? go home? no more sleepover or pancakes in the morning?"
"noooooooooo?"
"well, it is definitely bedtime boys."
five minutes later, mouths were open and they were snoring softly. we sent the parents text messages and we all smiled.
and in the morning, too soon after they fell asleep, they woke up and ate pancakes.
and now, too soon before bouncing into our life with her curls, big blue eyes, and smiles, annie is leaving tonight. i don’t know when seb can see her again, but today, as i look into seb’s face and know he doesn’t fully get it, but he will soon, i am grateful that time takes away the intensity of our feelings.
Reader interactions
7 Replies to “how do you mend a broken heart”
Oh no! Poor Seb!
Have you considered the thought of a pen pal program for Seb to pursue with her once it sinks in to him that she’s moved? Maybe that notion held back, and then dosed when he does realize it would help to sooth the hurt he’ll feel?
If it helps at all to know, I still keep in lovely contact with my best friend from age 5, so it is possible to have a long term friendship with someone he knows at his age many years in to the future.
Back to the pen pal thing – you could make a special trip with him to pick out a post card or two to write notes on & then off to post them, you know?
I realize it is terribly low tech, but there is something really awesome about getting a piece of mail with a picture and a great stamp from a friend.
I think my heart broke a bit for Seb tonight.
Would a web cam on both sides ease the transition a bit when he is longing for a look of his friend? ((hugs to Seb))
It’s National De-Lurking week and I read you, but rarely (if ever) comment. SOoooo now you get a comment and can go “who is this nutjob who is commenting on my blog”
I hope your son does okay with his friend moving away. I agree with the pen pal thing. It’d be a lot of fun for both kids most likely.
*sniff* *sniff*
poor sebbie. it’s tough. living in a college town, i understand how he feels. (un?)fortunately i have age on my side. HugS to seb.
Ooooh – I like the penpal idea – have them keep in touch, anticipation of cards showing up, learning to write and tell stories on paper – nice idea.
to shed some humour on this gloomy task, I always said annie ( or any other girl) wasnt good enough for my Sebbie, I know he will be fine xoxo
While in Tullamarine last year with both my families, waiting to come back to Los Angeles with just one of them, my 6 y/old son finally understood the huge difference between Australia and the U.S. and broke down, which made it extremely hard for everyone there. Later that year when Nan, my sister & her hubby visited he had a great time with them, but even at one month long their trip was over way too soon and when the shuttle arrived to take everyone to the airport my son refused to say goodbye to them. Of course as soon as the shuttle left he started crying his little heart out. It’s so hard to comfort your child and ease his pain when your own heart is breaking in two as well.