Chapter 12.7 – December 2023: part I – I'm dreaming of..

This December morning in the Rasmussen household started like so many others – with Silvia waking up first and loudly proclaiming as best as she could that she felt hungry and needed food – now! Solvej was having a slow morning and would rather have slept for atleast an hour or two more, but Patrik was on the spot to happily cater to the needs of his little favourite football player...

 

Solvej realized though there was no use in going back to bed now that she was more or less fully awake, so she might as well just go upstairs and prepare a pumpkin pie for herself and Rune when he woke up – and Patrik, as soon as he was done feeding Silvia.. and scoring, well, almost everytime.

 

Patrik wasn't to interested in food or Solvejs cake this morning, he would much rather spend some more time chatting and babbling with his new little favourite girl...

 

In these last days before the christmas holidays Rune had noticed a new poster in the school hallway advertising for a course in painting that he wanted to join. After his grandpa had given him a glimpse of what can be done with a simple canvas, a brush and acrylic paint, Rune wanted to go a little further and learn more about the art of combining colours to create a palette and use it to paint a picture...

    The downside was of course that the course came at a price, and Rune didn't get enough in weekly allowance to be able to afford it without going several weeks without buying his favourite cartoon, or spending it all on soda and candy... so he needed to ask his mom for a little bit of extra money.. He knew there was no point in asking his father...

    'Painting...? Why would you want to do that..? Listen son, I'd gladly buy you a new pair of football trainers if you need'em... but a course in painting? Can't they teach you that at school...?'

    He would just completely miss the point.. sure, they've done some painting in class during school hours.. but this was a different type of class, for those that wants to take their painting to a level that goes beyond painting the same shaped house from the same angle everytime..

Solvej was excited at the idea of his son wanting to tap more into his creative side and gave him the money to send him on his way without hesitation. She was already looking forward to see what he could come up with. Though Solvej wasn't much of a painter herself, art, music, vibrant colours... and plants.. where many of the things that gave meaning to Solvejs life. It had always been that way for as long as she could remember... and family, of course. Togetherness.

    It would be another wish come true if she could raise a beautiful set of kids that would all, in their own unique way, be a creative force to spread colour, life and joy to the world.. There were just way to much of the grey, the colourless, the dead 'dime-a-dozens' without any semblance of a soul...

The fields were already frozen when Rune went outside to hop on his bike, excited to go to his first painting class! The poster said it was 'only' a beginners course suitable for everyone aged 12 and up.. but he could already picture himself painting vast fantastic landscapes, mountains, forests, rivers and waterfalls.. maybe even some unicorns or dragons.. Maybe one of the mountains was a volcano spitting fire and brimstone. Or maybe there was a castle on top of a hill. Or a modern, futuristic city with flying cars and spaceships.. The possibilities were endless.. or atleast as far as he could imagine..

 

After he had walked out the door it was Lilians turn to wake up and call for her parents attention. She wasn't hungry yet, but in dire need of a diaper changed – which was very apparent as soon as the entered the room...

    "Oh boy, I think we need to open a window or two in here...."

 

Lilian wasn't fully potty trained yet, but she had discovered something really interesting behind that door at the end of the hallway anyway..

This strange object made of a white hard material for some reason filled with water – it was the perfect toy to play with. There was another white object to her left – next to what mom and dad called "the potty" - it was taller and looked a little different, but she knew there had to be water in that one too. She had seen mom and dad use it to rub the water on their hands. She couldn't reach up to that one – it was way to big. She could only, but just barely, reach down to the water in this much smaller object.

    Mom and dad didn't like her doing it though.. they said it was "yucky" and "ew". Sometimes when they found her doing it, they would lift her up and say "no no no" and put her down again on the potty..

 

Daddy would say the white smaller object was called "a toilet", and that it was where mom and dad and brother went to do their poo poo and pee pee, just like she did on the potty, and that she shouldn't put her hands down there.. but daddy would sometimes put his hand down the potty, but he never looked happy doing so.

What a strange room this was. There was another even bigger "toilet" on the other end of the room. Sometimes mom would fill the big toilet with water, and put her down in it and rub the water all over her and in her hair making it all wet. She did it just now to this other annoying one that kind of looked like her and that would always get in the way to play with everything she wanted to play with..

    It was one of her favourite moments to be in the water – except for the hair rubbing, she hated that– and apparently so did the other annoying one as she could see her wince and try to push mommys hand away. That never helped, because mommy was to big, much bigger than them, and they always had to get their hair rubbed.

After the painting course Rune had gathered outside in the schoolyard to talk a little bit more about what they had just learned with the other participants (most of them adults). However, the frost had been replaced with mild weather and rain, so standing out there talking for to long wasn't the most tempting thing, so after a brief exchange of words it was time to go home again..

..where Patrik was getting his daily workout, and Lilian was practicing her musicality on the xylophone..

 

..and Silvia was downstairs after her bath being perfectly clean, but in no way finished splashing around with water, it was just much to fun...

 

..and at the fire station local fire fighter Wendy Strandheim was just getting better and better at maintaing the fire alarm. No fire should be allowed to run rampant in this town, not on her watch, definately not..  

    Never again... she was determined to make sure of that... The safety of the people – and herself – was the most important thing.. safety... and freedom.... She was doing much better now, but she still had her dreams at night, and other dreams during daytime...

 

After Rune had returned home he wanted to spend some quality time with his dad, so he interrupted his workout to ask him about something he hoped he would enjoy... He remembered how much fun he had throwing the foot-to-hand ball in the park with Samira earlier, and thought it would be the perfect thing to do with his father as well..

 

Patrik, after hearing this question from his son, couldn't have been happier! How wonderful it is to be blessed with such athletic children! Of course my boy, let's go out and throw some ball!

 

Of course, Rune would soon learn that throwing ball with dad – a professional athlete already – would be a very different experience from doing the same with Samira..

 

Him and Samira were just kids playfully throwing the ball back and forth, but dad knew how to deliver a hard and fast one.. throwing ball with dad was learning the hard way! Rune was a big boy now, almost 13 years old.. the sooner he learned to dodge and catch a real throw, the better!

 

While the boys were having their fun (or 'fun') throwing the ball, Solvej had to take some time again to look after her plants in the greenhouse. The toddlers were alright inside, all fed and clean again, playing with each their toy upstairs.

 

Patrik and Rune kept throwing the ball back and forth until a good while after sunset, until Rune became to tired to continue. Dad was definately a few levels above him when it came to ball throwing, so right now he felt more like wanting to go back to the easel and brush to paint.. This sport thing wasn't all that great.. right now..

 

He just had to check his bed again for monsters, hoping that they had taken off to somewhere far away.. and it looks like they had, because there were none to be found right now.. he still thought he wanted to sleep in grandmas bunk bed.. just to make sure.. they might just be very good at hiding, tucked away in the dark corner, waiting for him to fall asleep... they might just..

It was getting late for Silvia too, and since neither mom nor dad was inside yet to put her in her crib, she took matters into her own hands to crawl up on the couch to take a rest in what had become her own little napping spot..

 

Cuteness overload. ;)

 

Solvej still had plenty of garden work to do, so it was Patrik that had to find his little sporty angel to pick her up and put her in the crib to go to sleep for the night. ;)

 

Aside from there not being monsters under any of the beds, Rune was also hoping for a white christmas this year, and just had to check the weather channel one more time before going to bed.

    The forecast said temperatures should drop again, and that there would be snow, but he wasn't excactly trusting it just yet. He had to see it for himself first.. but he really hoped to wake up to his last christmas before turning 13 and find snow.. and he would make the most amazing snow man, and igloo and of course, have plenty of snowball fights... he hoped..
    Lilian, having only experienced one christmas before, was still to young to fully understand what it was all about, so she didn't care much yet if there would be snow or not.. Right now she just wanted to be fed, and then it was bedtime. She had heard them talk about it – this holiday season and christmas eve, but it was a completely foreign concept in her mind.. something was going to happen, but she didn't know what it was.. as long as it wasn't anything to scary, it would probably be alright...

    Patrik wasn't gonna dress up as Santa Claus this year.. Rune was way to old to care, and Lilian and Silvia to young to understand.. Solvej had told him not too, for fear of the toddlers getting scared, and Patrik had no objection.. Dressing up as Santa Claus wasn't his favourite thing anyway, and if the kids didn't care, it was all fine by him...

 

Finally all the kids were asleep and the parents could have a small moment where it was just them while eating what was left of the pumpkin pie for supper..

 

..talking briefly about tomorrow, the decorations, the food and the festive joyous spirit.. and even though they were both adults, they both still had a child in them hoping for a white christmas.... just like the ones they used to know.. well, atleast for Patrik who grew up just some miles inland from here.. Solvej who grew up further south had really only longingly seen white christmases on postcards as a child...

..but still, who knows, they might all just get their wish fulfilled this year. Good night. ;)

 

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Chapter 12.6 – November 2023 – Magical number two..

 

It was an early saturday morning in November, and the town lay peaceful and quiet.. The boats were still in harbour after waiting out yesterdays storm, and a lone raccoon awoke from it's slumber in a tipped over trash can... the only thing to temporarily interrupt the silence was an old grey car driving by on the still wet road..

 

The car belonged to local firefighter Wendy Strandheim, who was just about to start the morning shift at the fire station.. probably the only person awake at this hour...

It was a slow morning for everyone, and Patrik and Solvej could find some time to embrace each other while both of the toddlers were taking turns delivering a gentle snore to let the parents know they were still asleep and that the room still needed to be quiet and peaceful...

Patrik then took to practicing a few rounds on the football goal outside to make sure his ability to play didn't diminish completely now that he was no longer on the team as a professional player..

 

Solvej was in the kitchen preparing a fresh salad with self-grown ingredients while Rune slowly woke up from having spent another night in the guest bunk bed. He preferred to sleep there most nights now after grandma and grandpas visit.. Grandma must sleeping in the same bed must've had some effect on it, because everytime he checked under the bunk bed, there were absolutely no monsters.. unlike under his own..

    "Next time grandma visits she can sleep in my bed" he told Solvej as he went for the bathroom to take a shower.

    "Oh... why is that?" Solvej wondered. "Is there something wrong with yours?"

    "No.. mom, my bed is.. just fine. I'm only saying it because.. I think grandma should have the best bed.. that's all.."

He didn't want to admit to mom that he still believed that he was still afraid of monsters under the bed at the age of 12.. that would be to embarrassing.. he couldn't let anyone know..

    "Ok.. well, that's sweet of you." Solvej said adding a few more drops of olive oil to the salad. "Breakfast is ready soon, don't hog the bathroom to long now..."

    "Sure mom..."

 

Downstairs Lilian was still sleeping heavily, hopefully dreaming about something pleasant, while her sister Silvia had just woken up to scream "POOOOOPEEEY!!" as loud as she could hoping that mommy or daddy would hear it.. It was just loud enough for Patrik to hear from outside, but not enough to wake up Lilian, so she must be a pretty heavy sleeper from the looks of it..

 

    "Ooh... that was smelly. Have you been a good girl dropping a big one for daddy now?"

    "Poopey.. all gone" Silvia giggled in response. "Daddy... bye-bye! Bye-bye daddy!"

    "Oh no you little snugglenugget, daddy's not going bye-bye!" Patrik chuckled. "Daddy's got something for you..."

 

    "There you go! Now let's go out and score some goals!"

Silvia giggled as he threw her in the air one last time, before he carried her outside and put her down in front of the goal with a kiss..

 

"Make daddy proud now! Show'em what you got!"

 

..and she shoots! And she scores!

GOAL! Yay! Everyone in the crowd roars and cheers – red flares are blazing on the tribunes, the atmosphere is ecstatic! Flags are being waved all over the place and total strangers are hugging! The captain shouts of joy as he jumps up from the bench on the sideline and runs onto the field, fists in the air and still roaring loudly! Silvia Rasmussens name is on everybodys lips as the crowd chants her name! She is everybodys hero now! The top scorer on the Sprottenham Totspurs! The champion of all champions! The commentator is so excited he's almost at a loss for words! Never since the dawn of time have the world of football seen a more glorious day! Daddy couldn't be any more proud! ;)

Meanwhile the heros sister Lilian was finally awake to, from all the noise and commotion outside, and it was time for mommy to pick her up and bring her upstairs to the living room and the toys.

Without food and drink, even a hero can't work as the saying goes, so after having scored several goals and won everybodys hearts, the captain of the team did his best to make sure that the champion was well fed and taken care of. ;)

 

Rune wanted to hang out some more with Samira from last month. She wasn't as smart and imaginitve as Edny, but she was more fun to play with – and she wasn't as inappropriate and awkward as Jorunn.. so he called her up to invite her over to ask her to go with him to the park...

He just had to quickly run inside to fetch his foot-to-hand ball to bring with him before they would take the shortcut across the grass...

 

His father didn't approve to much of the foot-to-hand ball – it wasn't a real sport - like football he would say, but Rune didn't care to much.. Sometimes picking up the ball to run with it and throw it was really fun too. So he spent an entire evening with Samira in the park - throwing the ball and perfecting his technique. Foot-to-handball or rugby as some would call it was a sport too! ;)

While Rune ran to the park with Samira, Solvej was also on her way as she had just been invited to a party over at Christoffer Vaddelmyrs house, but Christoffer was of course not at home, so Solvej decided to take out her guitar and entertain everyone outside with this new song she just wrote... a song she had been carrying inside her for a while, a song about the future...

 

When we grow up, will I be pretty?
Will you be big and strong?
Will I wear dresses that show off my knees?
Will you wear trousers twice as long?
Well, I don't care if I'm pretty at all
And I don't care if you never get tall
I like what I look like, and you're nice small
We don't have to change at all

-"When we grow up", Diana Ross

..while Patrik stayed home to happily watch after the kids, the potential young football player and the potential musician..

 

When Christoffers party looked like it was coming to an end (it wasn't very exciting anyway), Solvej got another phone call and an invitation to a second party over at Leni Dahl-Blankblomsts house, one of her former colleagues from the music career.

 

This time she saw people through the windows, so she knew the doors had to be open this time. When she walked inside she saw that Leni wasn't at home either, as the one she ran into after walking through the entrance hallway was Anne-Gerd. Anne-Gerd is another one of her former colleagues, which made it perfectly natural to start the conversation by reminiscing some about their time together as coworkers.

 

After spending the evening in the park having great fun in the park, Rune decided to make a run for it and head back home to his father and the twins for the night, while Samira hopped on her bike to go home to her own parents' house.

 

He came home to find his father eating supper by the dining table and the twins playing peacefully with each their toy.

It was bedtime soon, and he wanted to sleep in the bunk bed again this night.. just had to do the usual routine first to check for monsters.. luckily he found none. The bunk bed was a much better bed to sleep in... ;)

 

Solvej was still going strong at the party, entertaining the other party guests with a few more of her tunes as well as some cover versions of popular songs, when she got a phone call from Gretzl Trazlacat. Gretzl is the only child of sworn enemies Fragen Froosh, a retired school teacher that hates children, and Fragen Froosh, a retired military and complete doormat.

---------

Other guests at the party, aside from Solvej and Anne-Gerd, were some anonymous hot dog lady, Chansa Klinemann, who sings in the all female choir alongside both Anne-Gerd and Solvej, appropriately dressed as a mermaid, and Agnar Bergersen, another retired teacher who hates children. Supposedly, because when the party came to an end, he was repeatedly playing with Jonn, the youngest member of the Dahl-Blankblomst household..

 Back home everyone was finished with their evening meal and it was time to go to bed. Rune went to sleep in the bunk bed and Patrik picked up the twins to to put them in their cribs..

Everyone had left at the party now, but Solvej chose to hang around a little longer to entertain Daniel while he was feeding Jonn with just a few more songs from her repertoire.. before Daniel told her she had to leave, because everyone there was going to sleep...

 

Once home she found Lilian still awake with a soiled diaper, so she picked her up to comfort her and change her quietly so as to not wake up Patrik and Silvia, before lulling her to sleep, forgetting to take of her mask from the party..

Solvej from Lilians point of view.. if the kid isn't scarred for life now, she'll probably tackle anything. :P

When she was sure everyone was asleep it was Solvejs turn to practice some football. She wasn't the biggest sports enthusiast like Patrik, and potentially Silvia, but she had been chewing on some of her.. special coffee beans from her greenhouse... and had some extra energy to burn off before she could thought she could go to bed alongside her husband and go to sleep...

The football field was filled with strawberries forever and she was floating up among the stars there for a while, and scoring everytime... birds were chirping and she felt a strong sense of inner peace and unity with the ball.. the goal.. the grass... the world... until she felt the effects wear off and she lowered down back down to earth again... slowly, softly, gently...

She thought for a moment there she could just lay down on the grass for a while before going inside, but as winter was about to set in and it was going to get pretty cold outside on this starry night she figured that might not be the best idea.. If it was a summer night, however... so...exhausted and tired from a long day she slouched her way up the stairs and inside to get some good rest finally...

 

Good night.. ;)

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