Pixie's "I owe you"

Alivia, your mother owes you.

Some day when you're a teenager and the whole world hinges on the most trivial parties, superficial fashions and transient friends, I'm going to come through for you and grant you a "pass" when your entire existence seemingly depends on it. You know, when you NEED to stay out an hour after your curfew or there are a pair of shoes you HAVE to have. I'll have your back, I'll be a "cool" mom ... one time. All of this for the ten minutes of peace and quiet you bought me this morning.

Preparing to run an errand, my four passengers were buckled in and politely asked to please ride quietly. We needed time to "relax" I said. "Let's just be quiet and listen to the radio, please."

I admit, my ears already needed a break from Alena's constant chatting and it was only 10 a.m. Quiet. Please. Just a few minutes.

A few minutes in Alena's world of talking, however, in reality, last about five seconds. We hadn't even backed out of the driveway before she couldn't help herself. Lips were flapping, arms were gesturing.

But, instead of my needing to listen and chime in with my "Oh, my goodness"es and "really"s and "uh huh"s at the appropriate times, for a brief period, Alivia was her captivated audience.

My little pixie was apparently taken with Alena's tales of her "eyes getting run over" and "dad banging his head on the pool." These were a couple of the conversational highlights that I did catch despite my zoning out, grateful for another pair of ears to lessen the listening burden, if only for a short time.

About ten minutes into the trip, Alivia started to lose interest and Alena then asked her to "listen to my other story." Alivia wanted to tell a story of her own and began to interrupt our little chatterbox and Alena quickly reminded her that "mom asked us to be quiet."

From that point on, I was back on listening duty. Gasping when necessary, asking questions with curiosity and answering questions when asked. But, there were those ten minutes or so when I could actually hear myself think and for that, I owe you pixie.