day 80 | ‘timeless’

Spring 2000. Berkeley, CA

my parents were coming to visit, so isabelle went out on the porch to wait for them.
i explained that it would be a long time before they arrived. three hours.
isabelle insisted on waiting.
like most 4-year-olds she didn’t have a very good sense of time.

i would try to explain lengths of time to her by referencing things she was familiar with.
a few minutes was how long it takes to eat a popsicle.
twenty minutes was about the same as playing a game of candyland.

so i told isabelle that it would be as long as it takes to drive to the cabin before grandma and
grandpa got to our house. she knew it took a long time to drive to the cabin.
still she wanted to wait.

eventually she came in the house, but she wasn’t happy about it.