My son, Nicholas, has been wishing on every star he sees for the past several months for a chance to ride the Polar Express this year. He is absolutely obsessed with the movie and has been watching it year round for the past 2 years. Every time he wished for that special train ride I would have to explain that he couldn't ride the Polar Express because it's a special, magical train just for children who don't believe in Santa Clause. It broke my heart to tell him he couldn't do the one thing he was asking to do. Then, one day at work, I Googled 'Polar Express train ride' and just about had a stroke when I saw that, not only do they have a licensed Polar Express train ride, but that it departs from a fairly local train station! Tickets were very cheap and they had multiple rides every weekend from Thanksgiving through Christmas. I was so excited I called Shawn at work and told him that we could make Nick's dreams come true after all. He agreed and told me that we would get tickets. Since that was back in October, I saved the link to my favorites and went back to work.
Fast forward to mid-November. I pulled up the train station's website to order our tickets and, again, nearly had a stroke. They were sold out! Every ticket, every ride, every date. I nearly cried I was so broken hearted. I felt like parents did in 1983 when they couldn't get their hands on a Cabbage Patch Doll. I consulted sites like StubHub, Craigslist and Ebay in search of tickets. I came up empty handed. After days of desperate searches I finally found an add on Craigslist posted by someone who was selling tickets for 2 adults and 1 child. A call to the train station informed me that children under 2-years-old could ride on their parent's lap without a ticket for $1. I immediately contacted the seller telling him that I wanted his tickets, but I was too late. He had already sold them. At that point I posted my own add on Craigslist.
After nearly a week I was contacted by someone selling tickets. She had tickets for 2 adults and 3 children. I was willing to eat the cost of the extra ticket, so I told her that YES, I definitely wanted her tickets. She told me that she would like us to pay her via PayPal and that she would give us her confirmation number that the train station e-mailed her when she purchased the tickets. According to her, they do not issue actual tickets, rather, they e-mail confirmation numbers. At that point I was willing to risk being ripped off for a chance to get these tickets, so I chose to believe her. However, I am not completely naive. I also chose to call the train station to confirm that this was how they sold their tickets before completing the PayPal transaction.
As I was listening to the automated recording that you get when calling the train station my cell phone rang. I hung up the land line and checked my cell phone's caller ID for the incoming phone number. The caller withheld their number. I answered the phone and the conversation I had with the caller went like this:
me: "hello"
caller: "Jessica?"
me: "this is she."
caller: "hello, this is Santa, I'm about to make your dreams come true."
instead of asking when he was giving me a million dollars, I simply replied: "oh yeah?"
caller: "I heard you were looking for Polar Express tickets."
me: "uh huh." (said dripping with scepticism)
caller: "well, I have tickets, so how many do you need?"
me: "who is this really?"
caller: "I told you, it's Santa Clause."
me: "well Santa, I'm actually in the middle of buying tickets off a lady on the internet."
caller: "OK, well then you're all set"
me: "I do know other people who would be interested in your tickets. What do you have?"
caller: "I'm not really interested in other people. I saw your add on Craigslist and chose to help you"
I don't know why exactly, but at this point I was thinking this man had to be an employee at the train station. I guess that's easier to believe than thinking that Santa Clause would track me down at my desk. Anywho, the conversation continued:
me: "oh, well I was actually in the process of calling the train station when I answered your call. I have general ticketing questions. Does Santa know anything about ticketing?"
caller: "Santa knows everything about everything. What's your question?"
me: "the person I'm buying the tickets off of has 2 adult and 3 children's tickets. Would it be possible to upgrade one of those children's tickets to an adult ticket? And, if so, can we then also add in a lap sitter?"
caller: "which date and time are your tickets for?"
me: "December 18th at 6:00"
caller: "oh, you're buying Jan's* tickets."
me: "how'd you know that?!"
caller: "I told you, I'm Santa Clause. Jan bought her tickets over the summer and it turns out her daughter is in a play that day so they can't go." (this is all information that Jan did provide to me during our conversation the day prior)
me: "wow"
caller: "we should have no problem getting you on that train, just throw an donation in the donation jar and, if anyone questions you, tell them Santa said it was OK."
Before ending my conversation with Santa, I also confirmed that I only needed a confirmation number to get onto the train. I then hung up the phone and immediately called Shawn and told him to finalize the PayPal transaction. I explained that I just got a call from Santa himself and that we're apparently meant to be on this train.
The game plan is for us to give 2 of the tickets to my friend so she and her daughter (Nick's girlfriend) can join us. This works out perfectly because several days ago her daughter asked a teacher at her after school program if Santa was real or not. The idiot teacher told her that Santa was not real and that mommies and daddies buy all the Christmas presents. She was able to convince her daughter that the teacher was wrong - "I guess she thinks Santa's not real because she's on the naughty list and never gets presents from him!" - and that Santa is, in fact, real. I'm sure that this excursion will go a long way towards proving that he does exist for my friend's daughter. If the train ride doesn't prove it, I had a phone conversation that certainly proved his existence to me!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Empathy of a Four-Year-Old
This past Saturday, I noticed that our cat, Bullet, seemed to be quite sick. I will not go into too many details, but he had lost a significant amount of weight in a very short period of time. I made an emergency vet appointment and took him to see the doctor. During the examination, the vet found that Bullet was not only loosing weight rapidly, but he was also very jaundice and anemic. This most likely pointed towards his liver and/or kidneys not working properly. The vet explained that we had three options: put him to sleep then and there, run hundreds of dollars worth of diagnostic tests or take him home with medication and hope the meds helped. We chose to try the medication. We took him home with steroids, antibiotics, vitamins and an appetite stimulant. Unfortunately, Tuesday night, Bullet passed away in our laps.
Shawn and I decided that we were going to bury him in the woods behind our house like we had with our bearded dragons when they passed away. I think Evan's still too young to understand what was going on. It was after Nick was already asleep when Bullet passed, so we had to tell him today.
Bullet was Shawn's cat before we met, so, although he was OUR cat for the past 10 years, he was SHAWN'S cat even longer. As hard as this was on me, I believe it was harder on Shawn. I offered to be the one to tell Nick so that Shawn wouldn't have to. I wanted to be able to talk to him in the car on the way home, but I wanted to tell him face-to-face before we got into the car. When I went to pick him up from school, I pulled him aside and quickly explained what happened.
Nick was home with me when I noticed that Bullet was sick initially, so I asked if he remembered that Bullet had been sick. He said that he did. I told him that we were not able to get him better and that he died last night. Nick seemed taken back by the abruptness of my statement, but he didn't seem all that sad. That may sound harsh, but this made me happy. Of course I didn't want my son to be sad. I let him run off and play with his friends for a few minutes while I filled the teachers in so they would be prepared if/when Nick brought it up at school.
In the car on the way home Nick told me several times that he was very sad for Bullet. I explained to him that he didn't need to be sad for Bullet, that he was in a better place and no longer stuck inside a sick body. Nick and I have discussed souls before (in his words, a soul is the part that God puts in when a mommy and daddy are making a baby) so I thought he would understand that Bullet's soul went to heaven. He didn't have very many questions, but he did ask why he got sick and what kind of sick he had. The vet thought it might be cancer, but Nick's too young to know what cancer is or to understand the explanation. The last question that he asked me was, "mommy, do you know how you say goodbye to a cat?" I asked, "how?" He responded, "you just pet them on their backs and tell them goodbye." I told him that Bullet would like that very much.
When took Nick out with us for the burial. Nick said that he wanted to pet him and say goodbye. Shawn carried Bullet out to the woods with Nick following behind. We all pet him and I explained to Nick again that Bullet's soul was free to run and play as much as he wanted now and was not trapped inside a sick body anymore. When it came time to actually bury him Shawn and I were noticeably upset and started to cry. That's when my little boy said to Shawn, "Daddy, if you keep crying, you're going to make me cry too."
It melted my heart that Nick was so empathetic towards his daddy that simply hearing him cry would bring Nick to tears as well. I'm sure that Shawn and I will forever miss Bullet. I'm not sure if Nick will remember him in the years to come, but I am sure that the lessons he learned tonight will stay with him for life.
Shawn and I decided that we were going to bury him in the woods behind our house like we had with our bearded dragons when they passed away. I think Evan's still too young to understand what was going on. It was after Nick was already asleep when Bullet passed, so we had to tell him today.
Bullet was Shawn's cat before we met, so, although he was OUR cat for the past 10 years, he was SHAWN'S cat even longer. As hard as this was on me, I believe it was harder on Shawn. I offered to be the one to tell Nick so that Shawn wouldn't have to. I wanted to be able to talk to him in the car on the way home, but I wanted to tell him face-to-face before we got into the car. When I went to pick him up from school, I pulled him aside and quickly explained what happened.
Nick was home with me when I noticed that Bullet was sick initially, so I asked if he remembered that Bullet had been sick. He said that he did. I told him that we were not able to get him better and that he died last night. Nick seemed taken back by the abruptness of my statement, but he didn't seem all that sad. That may sound harsh, but this made me happy. Of course I didn't want my son to be sad. I let him run off and play with his friends for a few minutes while I filled the teachers in so they would be prepared if/when Nick brought it up at school.
In the car on the way home Nick told me several times that he was very sad for Bullet. I explained to him that he didn't need to be sad for Bullet, that he was in a better place and no longer stuck inside a sick body. Nick and I have discussed souls before (in his words, a soul is the part that God puts in when a mommy and daddy are making a baby) so I thought he would understand that Bullet's soul went to heaven. He didn't have very many questions, but he did ask why he got sick and what kind of sick he had. The vet thought it might be cancer, but Nick's too young to know what cancer is or to understand the explanation. The last question that he asked me was, "mommy, do you know how you say goodbye to a cat?" I asked, "how?" He responded, "you just pet them on their backs and tell them goodbye." I told him that Bullet would like that very much.
When took Nick out with us for the burial. Nick said that he wanted to pet him and say goodbye. Shawn carried Bullet out to the woods with Nick following behind. We all pet him and I explained to Nick again that Bullet's soul was free to run and play as much as he wanted now and was not trapped inside a sick body anymore. When it came time to actually bury him Shawn and I were noticeably upset and started to cry. That's when my little boy said to Shawn, "Daddy, if you keep crying, you're going to make me cry too."
It melted my heart that Nick was so empathetic towards his daddy that simply hearing him cry would bring Nick to tears as well. I'm sure that Shawn and I will forever miss Bullet. I'm not sure if Nick will remember him in the years to come, but I am sure that the lessons he learned tonight will stay with him for life.
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