Amy and John

Still dressed in her robe, Amy poured herself a hot cup of tea standing in front of the kitchen counter that looked out into the rest of their tiny apartment. It was almost 9:30 in the morning, which was considered late by their standards. Usually her and Ricky was up before the sun, and John getting woken up shortly after. They were a young family of only three, but sometimes it felt as busy as if they were parents to sextuplets. From the moment they wake up to the time they all get to bed at night, its is literally none-stop with a day full of things going on. Not just for Ricky and Amy either, who as is, already had pretty busy work schedules. John too, as a 9 year old had a busier schedule than Ricky and Amy had combined when they were that age. He was an active 9 year old, that took an interest in everything. Given the rocky start they had when he was little, they didn't exactly provide him with the most stable of childhoods, John and Amy were adamant about making sure he didn't miss out on anything he wanted to do. Problem is there was almost nothing John didn't want to do.

Living in California, most kids his age had parents who were almost a decade older than his own. The kids in his school came from your stereo typical upper class Californian families. 2.5 kids, Dad goes to work in his 60 thousand luxury car, while mom drives the kids around in an SUV (not mini van – there's a big distinction) and spends the day doing yoga or meeting her bffs for brunch while the kids are in school or daycare.

Hence, John was surrounded with kids who were involved in almost everything you could possibly be involved in under the sun. And California is not a state lacking of after school activities. If anything there was too much. Amy remembered opening John's backpack one afternoon and was almost attacked by a pile of promotional flyers that was sent home by the school. When Amy was younger, there was soccer and baseball for the boys, and ballet or gymnastics for girls. Of course they were targeted towards genders back then. Everything else was an afterschool club activity ran by a teacher volunteering their time. Now while those sports are still as popular, there was also mini rock climbers, young artists of California, Sword Sparring, Junior Chefs, Master Bakers…you name an activity there was an organization within two miles of your house to offer it.

Each month John was begging to join the flavour of the month. "Please dad please can I take martial arts lessons? Please? 4 of my friends are going and I don't want to be the only one"

Ricky who didn't grow up with any of it always had a hard time saying no. One of the main reasons for working so hard to establish himself is so that John can have all the opportunities he would have wanted for himself growing up. And if it meant steering him away from the path he had gone through as a child, then it was a small price to pay.

Amy however, had a very similar life style to that of John's friends and wasn't swayed by any of it. She grew up in a two parent, middle class family in California and well…look how that turned out.

Amy brought the tea cup to her lips using both hands as she continued to stand in the quiet of her kitchen, just starring out into the rest of the apartment. It wasn't too long ago that the sight in front of her would have been a small crew updating the space to make it livable for herself and John. Now their tiny living room was stuffed with evidence of how busy their life has gotten just this past year.

John was still asleep and she contemplated whether to just let him wake up on his own accord or finally get him out of bed. It was a weekday but she decided that she was going to take a day off after coming back in late from her New York trip and had told Ricky that maybe she would let John stay home with her that day. It's been a while since they as a family had actually spent leisurely time together and not running around from one activity to the next. Amy knew of course, that Ricky wouldn't be able to take the time off. In fact, he took of earlier than usual for work this morning to get a head start to his day. But hey, 2 out 3 ain't bad right? She thought back to the time where they all looked forward to Sundays. It meant that there was no where any on them needed to be and they could all spend it as they please, together as a family. Sundays was the day for sleeping in and doing whatever they felt like doing at the moment. Amy and Ricky stay cuddled together in bed, just laying together, sometimes they talked about their week or giggle at the small little things, teasing each other or doing other things. They'd stay in bed as long as they could until a bouncy little boy would run into their room and jump into bed with them. They would all stay in bed for a little while longer until one of them would complain about being hungry and Ricky would get up and make John's favourite breafast of waffles, and hot chocolate and put on a cup of coffee for Amy and himself. Amy and John would be cuddled together on the sofa watching morning cartoons, until Ricky was finished with breakfast and as a treat would all get to enjoy it cuddled on the couch in front of the tv. Now she can't remember the last time they had done that. She could barely remember the last time Ricky and her were in the place for more than half a day together.

Halfway through her tea, she figured she better jump in the shower then wake John up so they can start their day. Lazy days like these were rare and she didn't want to waste away any more time.

Less than 20 minutes later, she was showered and dressed and made her way into John's room to wake him.

She opened the door where John was still sleeping. He has gotten so big and already was outgrowing the bed she got for him a little over a year ago. She walked over and sat by the side of the bed.

"John honey, get up" She said softly gently shaking his arm.

She did this for a few minutes before John finally shifted.

"Come on bud, we gotta go, it's getting pretty late"

Finally John opened his eyes letting out a yawn as he stretched his arms up over his head.

"Where are we going?" He asked his voice horse from sleep.

"I was thinking we can go down to the city, maybe check out the aquarium we haven't been in ages and then see the new exhibit at the museum"

"Oh yeah they have the new fossil exhibit" John said now a little more enthused and awake. He remembered some of the kids from school talking about it.

"Yeah the pre historic one, so come on get showered you have 15 minutes to get ready" Amy said getting up off of John's bed.

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It was already 1:30 in the afternoon by the time John and Amy had finished exploring the museum and John was complaining of hunger. Since they had a late start to their day, Amy had made breakfast smoothies for her and John, along with an PB and J sandwich for John to have on the way to the city, but hadn't had anything since then.

They were only a couple of blocks from Ricky's work and Amy thought it might be nice if Ricky could join them for lunch.

"Mom what are we eating I'm starving!" John protested for what seemed like the 10th time.

"Let me call your dad, maybe he can come have lunch with us" Amy pulled out her phone to call Ricky, while John waited as patiently as he could as he walked beside his mother.

Ricky didn't pick up his work phone so she tried getting him on his cell. After several rings Ricky's voicemail came on.

"Hi you've reached Ricky Underwood, Marketing and Graphic Engineer for Emer and Sons. Sorry I can't take your call right now, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can"

Beep.

"Hey, John and I are close by and we thought maybe you'd want to join us for lunch. We might head down for some Pizza or Burgers at the small family restaurant on 5th street" Amy said looking at John to see if that sounded good to him, who nodded back in response "it's about 1:30 right now so we should be there in about 10 minutes. Hopefully we see you, if not see you tonight"

"So you okay with going to Bartelos?" Amy asked John after she hung up the call.

"Yeah that's okay. Is dad meeting us there?" John asked hopeful

"I'm not sure, I could only get both his voicemails but it is pretty late he might be in a meeting or have had lunch already, so I wouldn't count on it. We tried though right?"

"Yeah" John said feeling a little let down. Getting to skip school and spending the day with his mom was nice, but it would have been great if his dad could come along. He thought back when it was just his dad and him doing stuff together. He remembered him being busy then too, but never this busy. He still always found the time to at least see some of his games. His favorite was getting to watch his dad play, when he use to play hockey and hung out with the other kids whose dad was on the team.

Amy sensed John's disappointment and felt guilty for getting his hopes up. She knew that it was a long shot but thought there was at least no harm in trying, but didn't realize that John wouldn't see it the same way.

"Listen bud, I know dad and I have been super busy lately"

"Dad especially" John said quietly

"Yeah dad especially" Amy continued carefully "but that's part of his job. He really loves what he does John and he works really really hard at it. Sometimes that means having to put in a lot of time and effort. Kinda like when you go to those optional practices when you don't have to for hockey. You like it right?"

"I love it" John replied, feeling a sense of pride.

Amy had to smile at that. She knew how much John loved hockey, there were days when she'd let him stay a little longer after practice with a bunch of other boys on his team and practically had to drag him off the ice to get him to leave.

"And you work hard to be better at it, but that means also spending a lot more time at the rink. That's exactly the same for dad and his work. And that's a big reason why dad is so good at what he does. Just like why you've become so good at what you do"

And it was true. Amy was starting to realize how similar Ricky and John were. When they loved something they dedicated everything they had to it. She wasn't just being a 'proud' parent. Any unbiased observer can tell how good John is at playing hockey. His second year on the team, he had the highest amount of goals and was brought up to the Junior league after he just turned 9, about half a year early. Already he was outscoring some of the older kids in the league.

"Plus it means I can stay home and not have to work as much" Amy continued with a smile

"But you still do?" John said, almost accusingly.

Amy had to pause at that. The only reason Amy had taken a part time job at the paper in the first place was just so there wouldn't be such big gaps in her resume when she was finally ready for a more serious job. Ricky was making more than enough to support the three of them, and initially the two of them figured what a luxury it was that Amy could if she wanted, just stay at home and not have to work. The paper was only to keep up with her writing and for the experience of a formal job. However, she suddenly realized that slowly she had taken on more and more at work and didn't realize the effect it was having on their son.

"You're right bud, I've let work get the better of me lately, but I promise it's going to get better." Amy vowed to not let herself get to occupied at work. She couldn't control how much time Ricky was spending at work or how busy he was, but she knew she didn't have to spend as much time at the paper as much as she had lately. The last few weeks were an exception as she did that article on Jane Shaw, but after that's out and published she was going to do what was required out of her from her job and that's it. She wouldn't keep trying to take on any more extra assignments like she had been.

Amy rubbed the top of John's head as they neared the restaurant. She realized at how lucky she was to have this wonderful, well rounded boy who just accepted his parents for what they were. She missed a lot of his young life while she was away in New York and never had he held that against her. She knew it could have gone a lot different. He could have resented her for leaving. But he didn't. He continued being this happy, up beat little boy that always - without fail, gave her a running hug the second he saw her at the airport. Who would tell her stories at a hundred miles an hour – rarely stopping to breathe to try and catch her up on what was going on his little life, whenever he saw her. Who never intentionally made her feel guilty for having to leave him again and again and just understood that going to school so far away was just something his mother had to do. And for that, she was eternally grateful.