Creature of Habit
For the last three weeks, we’ve had signs up in our cul-de-sac. “PAVING. WEEK OF 9-12 TO 9-19.”
Well, as you can guess, it wasn’t done between 9-12 and 9-19. In fact, the pavers kept coming around just to change the dates on the “No Parking” signs that were scattered around the cul-de-sac to keep those of us who live here from parking on the road.
And then it started really raining, and I thought, “Well, this isn’t going to happen for a while. Quit taunting us by changing the dates!”
Monday afternoon, we finally got home after having been gone since 7:40 that morning. And… the cul-de-sac was PAVED. New asphalt all the way around, nice and smooth and flat.
Ane had kind of drifted off in the car, but I roused her excitedly. “Ane, look! See! They finally paved our cul-de-sac! Look at it! It’s going to be so great for you to ride bikes on!”
That was one of the best things about getting the road re-paved. Our neighbors, who have lived in their home since it was first built in 1967, when the cul-de-sac was gravel, said that the road has never been repaved since it was first laid. It was terrible for a kid who was just learning to ride a bike. Ane was constantly getting her back wheel stuck in cracks and grooves in the cement, leaving her to spin her training wheels until someone could give her a push out of it.
Ane, still groggy from her doze, got out of the car to take a good look at the new asphalt. She observed it silently, then turned to me and said, “I don’t like the new road. I liked my old rocks better.”
When I told Grandma what she had said, “She sounds just like someone I know… YOU.”
Yes, I confess, I am a creature of habit. I don’t like a lot of change. I know that’s where Ane is getting it from, but even I was happy to see our road newly paved. I figured she was too tired to know what she was talking about.
The very next day, as we were leaving to pick up Tad from school, Ane dashed out ahead of me to look at the pavement once again. “Mommy, the new road looks really good!” she enthused. “I can’t wait to ride my bike on it!”
Give her a little time, she comes around.
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October 9th, 2008 10:24
You should have told her that it was just the same as in “Cars” when they got a new road.
October 11th, 2008 05:18
Try moving to a new part of the world every 2-3 years.