Far Away

It dawned on me this morning how much of our lives exists within a 2 minute drive in the car or a 20 minute walk in the stroller. We have a usual route we take most days. We park at Nob Hill, the local grocery store, and walk across the parking lot to O'Henry's donuts. We then walk to the other side of the parking lot to Starbucks and then behind Starbucks to the trail that goes to the park. When we finish at the park, we walk back to Nob Hill and get food for dinner. And then drive two minutes to get home.

During our two minute drive home today, Owen asked, "Where's grandma?"

"I don't know," I responded honestly.

"At home?" He asked.

"I don't know," I responded again, honestly.

"At work?" I said.

"Still don't know," I answered.

"At school?" He asked.

"Grandma's don't go to school."

"At the park?" He asked desperately.

"No. We were just there and I definitely did not see her." I said as I turned the corner on our street.

Owen paused. I could tell he had run out of options. His vocabulary is vast and far beyond most almost 2 year olds. But he couldn't think of any more words to describe where grandma might be.

I kept glancing back at him, feeling bad for him as I noticed the confused grimace on his face. Suddenly, his eyebrows relaxed and a smug smile came over his face. The only other option had finally come to him.

"Grandma far away," he said with both satisfaction and sadness in his voice.

"You're right," I said. "Wherever she is right now, it is definitely far away. Too far away."

While our adventures in Northern California are limited to a small radius, my children are both happily and sadly aware that there is a whole other world in Southern California where people love them. And that while that world is "far away" we go there often and squeeze in as much fun as possible in the short time we get to share with them.

For now, I am glad that we have a simple life full of short drives and long walks. I am glad that Josie knows when the check-out clerk from Nob Hill comes into O'Henry's for a donut that he is in the wrong store and should go back to work.

But I am also glad that they know about "far away." And that the people and places who are "far away" won't be that way forever. We will get to see them soon. But we should do our best to enjoy the time until our next visit.