Hiding

My son and his partner, Bella’s parents, are both “roadies.” He’s a sound engineer and she’s a wardrober, and they both work for rock stars. They thought they could manage being parents without giving up their careers, but they are finding it difficult. Bella just spent a month with her mother’s parents in Arizona while her mother and father were touring on two different continents. Bella dearly loves her other grandparents, but she doesn’t like her parents being away for a month.

Since her mother returned and brought Bella back to Portland this past Monday, Bella has been unwilling to let her mom out of her sight. Today was a holiday bazaar Bella's mother organized locally. We thought I might take Bella off for adventures with Baba while her mom worked the bazaar, but when I got to the church basement where it was being held, Bella wouldn’t even look at me. She hid under the table where her mother’s goods were displayed, a blanket over her head. After about an hour I climbed under the table next to her. Once Bella was sure I wasn’t going to take her away from her mother, she lifted the blanket to let me join her and whispered, “Hide under blanket so nobody take you to airport.”