The sound of...

...the slick-swipe-click of our debit card as it tries to single handed-ly recover the economic crisis with purchases that promise to keep our young school-goers 'cool' and warm simultaneously was followed by the sighs of disappointment from Tony and I as we schlepped the overpriced school clothes from outlet store to outlet store. There were no victory-arm-pumping shouts of glee when a fantastic bargain has been found. There were groans of disparity between mom chic, dad practicality, Aidan coolness and Nadia comfort. These sounds signaled that summer is careening to an end.

...grandparent-ly questions posed by Papa Russ and Grandma Sue were meant to catch up on the present. Instead, they had me reminiscing about past adventures with these two and looking forward to the future as Tony and I hope to have the kind of love these two share after all of these years.

...Nadia's unfounded terror as the elevator whooshed up the 10 floors of the Hilton were followed quickly by the sound of her heart as my head rest against her tiny body. The melody was interrupted rhythmically by the soft crisp sheets as she repeatedly rubbed her bare feet against my leg to lull herself to sleep. The sound of Aidan flipping and then flopping and then pushing the blankets off and then pulling the blankets up reportedly kept Tony from enjoying the pillow top mattress to it's fullest.

...mmmmmmmmm as we sipped foamy cocoas and savored buttery croissants from a corner French bakery adjacent to Pikes Street fueled our morning. ...the colors that fill the market bring all of your senses to awakening. Yes, I do mean the sound of the colors. The orange of the carrots make a squeak and the brown of the mushrooms sound like the folding of flannel against flannel and the white of the cauliflower sounds like towels snapping on a clothes line and the clicky-clicky-clicky reddish-black of the crayfish sounds like a tap dancer and the yellow of the sunflowers sounds exactly like the static of brushing Nadia's hair....history lessons as Tony describes the windows in the sidewalks entertain us as we hike through the market.

...bustling and chattering people, thick flip-flop-flipping of tourist shoes, crushing ice to ice, jangling silver against stony jewelry, clanking of plates, bowls and nick-knacks and cheerful sales-pitches greeted us as we perused the market.

...the t.v., passing cars, child's questions and the alphabet game occupied the Red Mama as we drove from Seattle to Arlington to BBQ at Grandpa John and Nana Becky's house.

...the clicking of plastic to plastic in the foreground as Aidan awaits an age-appropriate and male cousin to play with is accompanied by relatives and friends swapping stories in the background. To pass the time Aidan and I decided to go for a walk. The sound of the wind swirling the leaves of the many trees seemed to echo a thousand tiny hands applauding was the hum as we meandered down the gravel road. He would ask and I would answer, I would ask and he would answer and the topic didn't matter, just his opinion and mine and the tiny clapping of leaf against leaf. ...the giggles of a gaggle of girls as they went on a hunt for kittens was halted only by the elation of Nadia when Grandpa John sounded the cock-a-doodle-do secret signal that meant Addy had arrived. ..."we will see you soon", "come over to the desert for a visit", "we miss you" followed us down the path back to our car and off to see more cousins.

...the grunts and coos and rattles of sing song baby toys as we visited with Lilly and Max warmed our hearts. The background of Aidan asking "when will Andrew be here" was finally silenced when the Friends arrived, only to be replaced with the happy hum of a three year old bundle of coyish cuteness named Mason and the reverberation of baby coos, grunts and sing songs when Baby Brody entered. Brody can only be described as a serious hunk 'o baby love. Cousins chattered, both young and old, cousins giggled, I ooo'ed and aaah'ed over the wonders of babies and mentally cursed my camera battery for giving out too soon.

..."thank you for letting us crash your evening" was followed by hugs and promises to see each other soon as we loaded up to come home. Tony and I talked of his cousins and how we would love to live closer to see them more and of our hope that they will come visit soon.

...of Aidan asking for the t.v. to be turned off. WHAT? WHAT? This has never in the history of the Bachart world happened before. We looked around a little confused. We were not even through Everett and he doesn't ever fall asleep before Cle Elum. We asked him to repeat what he just said and Nadia piped in, "we're tired, can you turn the t.v. off so we can go to sleep?". So we did just that, and I curled up into an uncomfortable, balancing pretzel and the remaining sound of the drive home was Tony flipping through the country stations to try to stay awake.