Poor Patty Punkety

Several days ago, I was thinking I should call my parents.  I think I was feeling concerned about them and hoping they were OK.

I didn't think they'd be home but I left them a message and they called me back.  I think the invention of talking to your parents on the phone was a good one.

"Are you sick?" my mom asked, "You sound sick."

I told them that my eye, which harasses me from time to time had flared up.  I gave them the whole list of things that were bothering me, all the struggles of a Thelma.

"Poor Patty Punkety," my dad said, in sort of a teasing voice.

He called me Patty Punkety when I was little.

I don't know how to spell Patty Punkety.

I don't know if there was ever a Patty Punkety.  Was she a real person, a character from a book, TV show, movie?

I don't know why my dad calls me Patty Punkety.

I just know that when my dad says, "poor Patty Punkety," in sort of a teasing voice, it makes me feel better.  It assures me and reminds me that I'm part of a tribe of people that love me and Whatever Lies In Front of Me is not all that terrible.

(I think the reason I felt like I should call my parents was because I needed them, not the other way around.)

A few days ago, Braeden was obviously struggling.  He was cranky and surly and he is hardly ever cranky or surly.  Something was up.  I decided spontaneously to pick him up from school and take him to lunch.  Foot long Subway sandwiches are his love language.  I told him everything was OK.  I told him to have perspective and to keep his chin up.  After dropping him off, when he walked back into the school with a bit more bounce in his step, I realized that maybe that was my own version of saying "poor Patty Punkety."

Life can be hard.  There are all sorts of concerns that hassle us.  But there are also reminders all around us.  There are friends that text quick messages of love and support and concern.  There are sisters that hammer everything out on the phone with you.  There are husbands that send you to bed and fix the clogged drain.

There are dads that say, "poor Patty Punkety..." in sort of a teasing voice.

We're all going to be just fine.