snow day

"Got to love the snow." my cousin Walsh said when I opened the door to see him standing there with the kids.

Me-:"Okay, understand that you're off work cause of the weather, but what's the kids doing here?"

Walsh-:"Long weekend. They have today off as well for Easter."

Me-:"Well, isn't that special."

He glared at me. "Hey, just cause you don't like the holiday..."

Me-:"Never said that. I mean chocolate is always good. So why you here?"

He shrugged. "I was taking them to my mom's for the afternoon, but there isn't any answer. Guess she went out and forgot to tell us. And the pool is closed until after 3pm today. So, we're just hanging around this area for a bit."

I started to make tea trying to ignore the fact the kids were there. I had a round of 'don't touch that!' for the next few minutes to the point the kids started touching everything and asking if they could touch stuff. They thought it was funny as hell, and I just wanted to throw them out the building.  I would make a horrible mom.

Me-:"You brought them here just to drive me crazy didn't you?"

Walsh-:"Of course." he laughed. "When you did that dinner thing, did you come across any Alice in Wonderland stuff?  The kids want to have a spring tea, if the weather gets better next week."  I shook my head telling him no, then stopped.

Me-:"I didn't find any, but there was this one party planner, like this lady who does it for a living, online that had done that theme." I handed him a cup of tea, and found the link to the website. "What else is new?"

Walsh-:"Have you been to the cafe yet?"  he was referring to one of his step-mom's new business ventures. I said no not yet. "You need to go next week when the weather gets better." he just sat there with a look on his face.

Me-:"Okay why?"

Walsh-:"They are hosting a poetry night. Thought that might be up your alley."

Me-:"Twenty years ago yeah, not so much now."   The youngest started to whine asking if they could go to grandma's yet? 

Walsh-:"Can I finish my tea please?"

Youngest Kid-:"But it's boring here and there's nothing to play with."

Walsh-:"Don't be rude!" he put his cup down and got comfortable just to make a point. "So have they returned to you yet?"  referring to my eight missing regular readers.

Me-:"It looks like one has. But the rest are missing in action."

Walsh-:"Well, Mad Hatter is the only one you need anyways."

Me-:"It's not Mr. Scratchy." I took a large gulp of my way too hot tea nearly choking on it. "I actually think it's Rebel without a Cause."

He looked at me and grunted. "Huh. Well thats...not...maybe? Don't worry, Mad Hatter will come back. They all will."

I shook my head again, yelling once more at the kids to not touch stuff. "I don't know man. Last year this time, they disappeared for a few days, this is two weeks straight. Bit over much time wise. I have no idea what I said to make everyone bail."

Walsh screwed up his face as he closed his eyes leaning back on the sofa. "You didn't do anything. Stop blaming yourself for other people's actions. Just keep believing in him."

Me-:"You make it sound so simple. You've been hanging out with your step-mom too much."

Walsh-:"It is that simple. You over think things way too much. Relax, enjoy, and just stop watching the pot. A watched pot never boils." he grabbed his tea drinking half of it in one swallow. "Okay, I guess we'd better go before those two monsters break something."