keeping a lid on it, just [or] phone counselling your child when she is in america

this will be brief because i don't want to become too fucking predictable.

but first, for bevis:











two phone calls today. the first one in the morning, so it was about 5pm their time. i called her. ali answered and hung up on me. i'll give him the benefit of the doubt and think it was a mistake. i called back, princess answered.

they were in a rental car place trying to organise a car to drive to california and san diego. princess told me how busy they are going to be in the next week. she sounded fine and said she thought she would stay until the 23rd. i was pleased as it sounded like she had worked it out and felt better about things. we chit chatted, she said she'd like to talk to her granny (here) and i told her i'd organise it on thursday, when granny comes back from canberra. princess also said i was right about the day yesterday, it was friday not saturday.

that was all ok. it was cheery and light. her voice got a little quiet when we said goodbye, but i make sure we don't drag it out too much, and keep it short and i don't linger, i say goodbye, i love you, and hang up.

i work today, it goes well. i brush the gigi. i swear the condition of her coat when she came back from the nashville kennel was terrible. great matted knots on her belly, and behind her ears. i brush and brush and she is so good about it. she loves me so much, she puts up with it annoying and pulling at her. i had to snip out the really matted bits, using like a funny curry comb type of thing, which is quite hard on her fur. great wafts of hair come out, and i filled a plastic bag; it was like white fairy floss.

another thing about the gigi, her collar is red and when she was at nashville, she obviously got really saturated from rain or hosing or something, and they didn't take the collar off, so she came back with a ring of pink around her neck, similar to when the cat in the hat visits the children in the snow and has a bath and leaves a pink cat ring in it, which then gets transferred to everywhere in the house and out into the snow.

anyway i had to bribe gigi to come and be washed under the hose. i had my bathers on - woo, hoo - and eventually got her to come. she was very wary of the house, whereas before nashville you couldn't get her away from a turned-on hose. i washed her, then she ran off to do the shake and slunk into the bushes and rolled and crawled to get the smell of shampoo off her. apparently dogs like eau d'snail more than eau de parfum of any sort.

just looked out the back door. she is wet, looks miserable and is filthy with dirt. fuck. i guess i'll have to rinse her off with the watering can and lock her in the laundry so she doesn't roll. bum!

then the phone rang around 3pm, 8pm there in san francisco.

she's in tears, in the bathroom for privacy. i talked her down, trying to distract her, explaining to her that she is just homesick, it's normal and happens all the time, that if she can get through the next couple of days then it will probably improve. i told her it happens at night particularly, that during the day she is fine. we talked about her routine being out of kilter (no dinner, they'd "had a really late lunch". for fuck's sake.) i said if she gets enough sleep it will make her stronger to deal with the homesickness.

during our conversation her dad came in to the bathroom and gave her a hug which i'm quite impressed by. he is good with her, but has never really been sympathetic with her tears, if you know what i mean. i think he was ridiculed when he was little and cried, so didn't know how to deal with someone else's tears. (mine included).

anyway she told me she wasn't miserable during the day, she was ok. i told her i am really proud of her, that even though i didn't expect her to definitely understand that this is an amazing experience for her, and a real life growing time, that i was sure she could sort of get what i meant. she said yes.

i told her to get into her pyjamas. she said that lisa had washed them (big tick) but that they were still wet (big cross). i told her to get onto her bed and start reading the first book in the series of four i got her to take away. she said she had planned to start that book tonight. i said good.

oh, almost forgot. she said karen is saying weird things about me. i told her not to listen to karen, she doesn't even know what day it is in her own country! (trying to make her laugh)

she did laugh. softly. and said something again about karen drinking too much.

jesus.

the sooner she is out of karen's the better.

so on monday they set off to los angeles to pick up the carpets for the rug show in san diego on the 14th.

i don't know what the next few days will hold, but i'll be sure to report everything here. cause i know it's so interesting for you all....

ha.

x

day 10
17 days to go