Penelope, My Love

I Love my Leatherman. I have named her Penelope. She's a Leatherman "Juice" and she's lovely. Penelope has never let me down. She's always there for me. Almost *TOO* much, if that's possible. She is never more then 5 feet away from me at any time, and I use her almost every day. But that creates a problem sometimes.

For example, back when Reagan lived down in Provo, she invited me to come with her to the county courthouse. See, for one of her classes ( I think it was a family relations class or something) she had to go to DIVORCE court and see people fight with each other. Apparently this was supposed to teach you that divorce was bad and that you wanted to avoid it at all costs. All that experience taught me was that 1) It's stupid to have a child and raise a child when you are still a teenage. There is a VERY VERY low chance that you and the child's father will have a normal amicable life, There are of course people that have done it, but I believe they are the exception, not the rule. This courtroom was FULL of 22 year old girls with 6 year old kids. Next. 2) if you EVER do drugs EVEN ONCE it will be brought up to show what a horrible person you are and how you shouldn't have custody of your child and finally 3) If you don't have good communication skills or intelligence you will most likely end up in court talking about the time that you got drunk and used pot and that you are a horrible mother.

But my point is that I forgot about Penelope and she was discovered hidden in the crevasses of my purse when it went through the x-ray machine. They pulled it out and I said, "oh yeah!! Sorry about that" Reagan was MORTIFIED. She thought they were going to cuff us right there and strip search us because I was "caught" trying to "sneak" a knife into the courthouse. It wasn't a knife!! It was Penelope!! She wouldn't hurt a fly! (A spider, yes. But flies? NO WAY!!)

I did the EXACT same thing a few months later when Marcelo and I went to the immigration building for his Green Card interview. What a place to bring a weapon, right? Someone that can make the decision about my husband staying in this country, and I try to bring Penelope into the office? Super LESS EFFECTIVE. Anyway, I saw the scanner and immediately remembered about Penelope and I had to take her back to our car.

But the real problem comes at airports. I *usually* can remember to take her out and put her in my checked on luggage. Or, if I'm only going for a short trip, I usually end up leaving her at home. She needs a vacation too, sometimes!! But what happens when I forget to take her out of my bag? Such a thing happened December 31, 2008 in the Dallas Love Field Airport.

I forgot to take her out and put her in my carry on luggage. And they of course found her. Penelope is much like me: we both cannot hide in carry-on baggage with ease. And she was found. *Luckily* you can now mail yourself things from the airport (for a ghastly fee, of course) and I chose to do this. I thought about just getting another Leatherman, but I couldn't abandon Penelope like that, not after all we had been through!!

So I mailed her to our address in Utah. The guy doing it said that it might take up to 3 weeks, but he was sure it would be faster then that.

He was lying.

I would listen for the mail every day. As soon as I would hear the door open and close, I would run out and check to see if it had arrived. I was skunked over and over again. No Penelope!! After 3 weeks, I started to realize she was never coming back to me. I mourned her loss. I had a little memorial service for her. I thought about getting another Leatherman, but the pain was too raw, too soon. I couldn't think about doing it and betraying Penelope, especially after all we had been through. So sad. My poor sweet Penelope.

It was over, our time together. Oh, we might've had some more good time, for sure. But our time was cut shor . . . .Wait. What was that? Did you hear that? Did you hear the mail being put in the box? Did it sound different to you? Hold on one second.

PENELOPE!!!!

How I've missed you!! 4 weeks and 1 day after we parted, you returned to me. I'm pretty sure that it was your sheer will and determination that brought you back to me. I know you are tough like that and I know that you missed me too.

We celebrated your return by fixing Evi's high chair, re-wiring my blow dryer, instaling new batteries in some water toys and fishing some hair out of the drain. (Penelope knows I hate touching that stuff with my hands. She doesn't mind taking one for the team) It was a happy reunion. See how happy she is?

I now realize that my life without you would be a shallow echo of what it is now. Let's never be parted again, ok?