A willing grandmother

Kelz had invited my Mom to come out to San Diego to help with Sasd after she had been born. Mom was very excited because she had always wanted to be a grandmother. She would have actually preferred the baby to be my biological child. But she wanted that experience more than anything, enough to be willing to love a child she wasn't related to.

However, we had some preparations to make. I needed to find a crib for Sasd. I looked in the classifieds and found someone who was selling one for $60. That sounded like a good deal to me. I went over to see the man. The crib was white-painted metal with pastel colors on the bars. I was not picky. I paid him the money and loaded the pieces into my car.

I picked up Mom at the airport. She asked how Kelz and Sasd were doing. I said they were doing very well. She asked how I was dealing with the situation. I told her that things between me and Kelz had greatly improved. Kelz had a better attitude and had stopped smoking. Mom was relieved to hear that.

We arrived at the apartment and went inside. Both Kelz and Sasd were asleep in the bedroom. We tried to be quiet while Mom admired the baby in the drawer, but Kelz woke up anyway. She was happy to see Mom.

The next three days went very well for the three of us. Everyone got along. It was nothing like Christmas. Mom enjoyed helping change Sasd from time to time and giving her a bath. Mom also made some meals for us. Right before Easter, Lucky was giving away hams with purchases over a certain amount. This meant that we had a ham for Mom to make a casserole with one day. It was like living at home again.

While Mom was there, I assembled the crib. We decided to have the crib in the living room. Mom told Kelz that my Dad was good at putting things together and I appeared to take after him.

One night, we went out to eat at the Corvette Diver in Hillcrest. The wait staff there has a schtick in which they pretend to be rude. Our waitress exclaimed, "Oh, no! It's a baby! It's going to cry!" Actually, Sasd stayed quiet during the entire meal.

While we encountered no actual drama, there was a little hiccup. I invited Thoz
to come over and see Sasd. When she arrived, Kelz whispered to me, "I don't want her to hold the baby." Thoz got to see the baby, but did not get to hold her. Mom sensed that there was tension while she was there. She told me that she thought Kelz was jealous of Thoz. I told her she was. This wound up being the only time Thoz saw Sasd.

On Sunday, it was time for Mom to go home. She was very sad about leaving. Kelz and Sasd did not come with us to the airport. On the way there, Mom told me that Kelz really appeared to be on edge. She actually recommended that I buy cigarettes for her. I had no choice but to agree. After seeing Mom off, I went to the store and bought a pack. Kelz was very happy to have the cigarettes and went outside to smoke.

I felt good about Mom coming out. It made her so happy. But I didn't know if I would ever feel so good about Kelz that I would want us to have a child together. And I didn't know if Mom wanted that, either. Again, we were simply living day to day.