Frankie's [Final] Farewell

Today was a beautiful day outside.

Marianne was still at the house when Rob & I headed out to work this morning.

yep. those are mare's keys.
.... it's tuesday.

Five and a half hours later, she and I were walking from my office to Chipotle for lunch. Haha. That's right, she was still here up until about 2pm, when she and I said goodbye for the 400th time. If I'm right, her last stop before she departed from Cinci was back down at the Coffee Emporium in East Hyde Park. We went there on Sunday before our great tattoo venture, and she went there on her own yesterday. Apparently, she ran into another Marianne, so they wrote Frankie on her cup and told her that was her name from here on out. I don't know if she had the heart to tell them today that she won't be back for... a while :(, but I do love that she's been in Cincinnati for about three days now and has already established herself at a coffee shop.

That being said,

GO HOME, FRANKIE!

 

And yes, I'm very much kidding; I wish she, along with Ali, Tim & Damanji, were residents of somewhere-right-around-the-corner, instead of other-places-around-the-U.S.-and-soon-to-be-Korea,-Tim... [*sad.face.]. I am in need of some recuperation still after the weekend rumpus with them all, but there is nothing more direct and satisfying than face-to-face time with your favorite people.

the quote is mare's original thought.
.. i'm blessed to be this part of her journey!

Like I said, today was beautiful. I had decided on my way to pick up Sydni that if she wanted, we'd take full advantage of the pretty weather before it relapses tomorrow into this wintery wackjob that it's been lately.

Since asking a 4-year-old if she wants to go play in the park is like asking me if I like... food, I really wasn't expecting anything other than a couple of hours at Stanbery to soak up the rest of the daylight.


"look mommy, i'm not touching the ground,
i'm not!"

my walking stick carrying, smizing super model tour guide :p

We even had a surprise guest, too. I thought Rob would be tied up at work for most of the evening, but his arrival was announced by the [beautiful] growl of his bike; looks like we were all trying to squeeze something out of the weather today!  

meet my world.

Quick Proud Parent Moment: I was reminded tonight that while Sydni is just 4, she is a fiercely loyal force with which not to be reckoned. Another little girl, seemingly around the same age, maybe a year older, unabashedly approached me and asked flatly, "What happened to your chest?!" She was of course referring to my keyloids, which is neither embarrassing nor aggravating to me anymore. Coming from a child, the question always amuses me more than anything else [especially as opposed to grown adults with no sense of personal space who feel it appropriate to just reach out and touch them while asking - that's a whooole different story, mis amigos..]. I opened my mouth to respond, but Sydni was quick to interject: tiny hands on her hips and all, "Those are my mommy's scars because her boy brothers threw a firework at her." She meant cousins, but it was so quickly delivered and direct that I stood there for a split second in silence, and, if I'm honest, a little bit of pride. My little girl can stand up for things. She also has a vault-like memory, as a side-and-cautionary note to myself. Hah.

Sydni tuckered herself out eventually, so we made our way back to the car to head home. The sun was setting, which gave me the perfect opportunity to capture Sydni carrying that big globe of light.

sunny girl (:

^ She thought that was the coolest thing; now I'll get to explain to other people why she's telling everyone she touched the sun ;)

It's unusually quiet around the house tonight; even though our company was only here for a few days, I'm a little... sad, if you will, that they're all gone now. Mare cleaned the place up before she left [thank you, even though you did not need to do that, haha], so we got to skip that part and go straight to dinner and some unwinding time.

We are some imperfect but blessed, happy people, around here. G'Nite ♥.

xo | cmd