Nostaligia

[Personalias]

Leonard brought in the last two cardboard boxes into the new apartment.  “Check it out!” he said as he set them down. “Last boxes!”  His dirty blonde hair damp with sweat, he  put his hands on his hips as he caught his breath.  Jeans and a black t-shirt had been a bad choice for this weather; but he liked how he looked.  Moving day sucked, but what it represented was very much the opposite.  “Are we moved in, yet?”

Abigail came in from the kitchen, her auburn hair frizzy at the edges from the summer heat and the general stress of today.  She didn’t look much more comfortable in her untucked in blouse and wrinkled casual khakis. It was a good stress, though.  “Not until we get everything unpacked, you goober.”  She gave Leonard a peck on the lips.  Then a peck became something deeper.  “Kitchen’s done, by the way.”

Her husband smiled. “That shouldn’t have been too hard,” he joked, “It’s not like we’ve got that many dishes.”  

“A few broke in the move,” she laughed.  “Just made it less to unpack.“  She looked down at their feet at the last two boxes.  “I don’t remember those boxes.”  The cardboard containers at their feet were big and heavy enough; Leonard could attest to that; but they were a distinct eggshell white as compared to the chestnut brown of their other boxes.  Furthermore, they were sealed shut with thick duct tape instead of the clear packing tape of the other boxes.

“Kind of looks like the boxes at my Dad’s office,” Leonard said.  The two realized the truth of it as soon as it was said.

Abigail cocked an eyebrow playfully.  “You don’t think they sneaked these into the moving van do you?”

“Only one way to find out.”  Leonard took a knee and ripped the containers open.  Inside carefully wrapped storage bags in each box were toys.  Lots of them.  Action figures and Barbies.  Stuffies and baby dolls.  Blocks and rattles. Even a couple of pacifiers and bottles.

“What the heck?”  Abigail’s voice was incredulous but not offended.  “How’d my old baby toys get put in there?”

Leonard fished a letter out. “I think yours are in on it, too.”

Abigail smiled softly.  “That tracks.”  .  The newlyweds stood shoulder to shoulder, reading the letter together:

   “Dear Abbie and Leo,

             We’re all so very happy for you both.  You two have known each other since you were both babies and have been inseparable ever since.  It seems like just yesterday that you two were lying side by side getting your diapers changed together.  We watched as you went from nursery playmates to potty training buddies; (though Ted and Martha insist we remind you that Abbie got the hang of things much quicker in that department); and became classmates.  

At home you went from being neighborhood kids to each other’s best friends as you grew up, to boyfriend and girlfriend. You even beat the odds and maintained a long distance relationship through college  Now, you’re husband and wife, starting your own lives together, and moving into your own apartment.

For your wedding present, we decided that instead of sending you to a destination vacation where a whole lot of money would be spent all at once and never seen again, we’d give you a head start on your new living situation.  Enclosed is a check to cover your first year’s worth of rent in your new apartment.

Also enclosed, just for old time’s sake, are some of your old toys that we just couldn’t bare to part with come garage sale season over the years.  Perhaps you’d like to pass them down to your own children someday (Though Mark and Tina insist we emphasize that none of us are in any hurry to become grandparents just yet. Far from it!)  Maybe you’ll sell them at a thrift store for a little extra spending cash.  Or perhaps you’ll just hold onto them for old time’s sake.  The choice is yours.

Just know that we all love you, and even though you just moved out, we miss you already.  Even though you’re making your way in the world as young adults; to the four of us you’ll always be the silly toddlers pitter pattering around one of our two houses.

Love,
Mama and Daddy; Mom and Pops.”

Abigail was a little teary eyed. “Awwwww! That’s so sweet!”

Leonard wrapped his arms around her hips and kissed her on the cheek.  “The rent isn’t bad either.  We’ll have to thank them, again.”

“After we’re done unpacking.”  Abigail tried to get out of her husband’s grasp and get back to work, but Leonard’s grip was too tight.  To be fair to both of them, she wasn’t trying very hard.

He let her go, anyway. “Or...” he said, “We could dig around.  Maybe play with some of our old toys.”

Abigail looked down at the boxes.  “We’ve got work to do.”

“C’mon Abbie,” he used her old childhood nickname.  “Let’s play!  I just moved aaallll of these boxes.  I need a break.”

“You’re stalling, Leo.” she playfully replied.  She gestured around the mountains of cardboard still assembled around them.  Boxes and boxes and boxes.  “We’ve got boxes to unpack and clothes to hang up, and appliances to arrange.”
Leonard rolled his eyes.  “Yeah yeah yeah.  And after that, we’ve got groceries to stock up on and walls to paint, and floors to scrub, and thank you cards to fill out, and furniture that we haven’t had since we were eight to assemble.”  There was a reason the rent was so cheap.  This could be nice but it was decidedly a fixer upper.  “I’m just suggesting we pace ourselves.”

Abigail reached in and took out a naked barbie doll.  “And play with stuff that we haven’t touched in ages?”

A smirk blossomed.  “You read the letter. It’s what our families would want.”  

“We’ve got all these boxes!” she gestured to the mountains of cubes stacked end over end.

“You see boxes,” Leo said.  “I see a cardboard city. A playset!”  He dug into his own treasure trove of nostalgia and pulled out a Wolverine action figure.  “Something to fly through and fight crime in.”

“Wolverine doesn’t fly.” Abbie pointed out.

“You know what I mean.”  Leo looked annoyed, but he knew he’d already won.

Abbie sighed, guiltily.  “Alriiiiight,” she said.  “Let’s be kids again.”

Leo jumped so high that he’d have clicked his heels had he thought of it.  Abbie giggled and started digging out for clothes for her tiny plastic woman.  Being a pair of grown-ups making their way in the world could wait, (at least until bedtime).

“You better watch out bub” Leo growled in his best tough guy voice.  His Wolverine did its best to climb up the cardboard skyscraper, even though its elbows didn’t bend.  

Within two minutes Barbie had been fully dressed and was walking on top.  “This is like, totally cool,” Abbie said, her voice only a little higher than her regular speaking voice.  Barbie was always something of a California Valley Girl to her.  “Maybe we should like, totally go to the mall.”

“Are there Sentinels at the Mall?” Leo asked for Wolverine.

“Um...like, no..” Abbie said.  “But there are cute boys!”  Barbie stilt walked to the much shorter action figure.  “But like, there’s one here.”  

Wolverine went hurling against the far wall and slid behind another box. “Eww!” Leo said.  “Cooties!”

Abbie giggled.  “Does Wolverine have a weakness against cooties?” she teased. 

“No, but I do!” Leo answered.  He immediately saw the error of his ways.  It was too late for him to stop Abbie from tackling him and showering him with kisses  “Eww! Ewww! Eww!”  he groused as she peppered his cheeks with her lips.  

Left with no choice but to defend himself, Leo unleashed for the secret weapon.

Abbie’s playful giggles turned to panicked and loud scream while Leo’s hands dug into her armpits.  “Noooooooo!” she wailed. “No fai-ai-ai-aaaaaair!”  Leo assaulted her sides and ribs as she retreated, turning her rolling off of him into a pinning position.  “STAAAAAAAHP!”  Abbie’s ponytail swished like an angry cat’s tail as she squirmed beneath him.

He knew she was fine. As long as Abbie wasn’t screaming “RICE CAKE”, she was fine. Long ago, when they’d actually been kids, they’d worked out a safeword: Even if they hadn’t known what a safeword was or that “RICE CAKE” was functioning as one. It was just that they both new the bland flavorless quasi-styrofoam patties were the last thing either one would want to eat or talk about in the first place.

“STAAAAAAAAAHP!”  Abbie repeated; screaming more than laughing.

“Say it!”  Leo teased. “Say it!”

“RICE CAAAAAAKE!”  

Leo let up immediately and sat back on his knees. His smile was all teeth.  There were times when getting each other to Rice Cake was a win condition.  Thus the use of a safeword had become a kind of childish game of who could push each other’s buttons faster and harder.  He waited for Abbie to catch her breath before taunting, “Wussa mattuh, Abbie-wabbie?  Awe you afwaid you’re going to go pee-pee in your pantieeees?”

Abbie sat up and slapped him on the shoulder. “You were the one who potty trained last!” Abbie shot back at him.  “Both my parents and yours said so.’

“Technically,” Leo corrected her, “It was just my parents that…” He stopped himself, realizing he was proving the girl right.

“Uh-huh…” 

New gambit, Leo decided.  He undid the snap button on his jean shorts and flashed his Mickey Mouse underoos.  “I’m potty trained, now.  See?”

Abbie threw up a hand and averted her eyes.  “Eww!  Boys are so gross!” She said.

Leonard rebuttoned his pants, the stretchy elastic waistband making it easy to reconnect the front ends (as well as making them largely symbolic).  “That’s not what you said last night.”

Abbie blushed. “Okay, point taken,” she said.  “What do you wanna do next?”

Leo thought a second.  He liked messing with Abbie, but there had to be something they could do together. A way to ‘play nice’, as Mom an Pops would have said.  “Wanna build something?”

More nostalgia washed over the pair.  “You bet I do!”  She ran over to the nearby toy shelf and grabbed a plastic bin filled to brim with Megos.  Just over the brim of her light pink shorts, Leo saw a glimpse of Lambchop panties peeking out.  “Wasn’t potty trained that much earlier than me,” he grumbled.

The colorful plastic blocks tumbled out onto the rug and the two instinctively scrambled to the very peripheries of the spill so that they could pile the mess up high.  “Don’t lose anything,” Leo’s Pop called out from his spot recliner.  “Can’t build your rocket ship or whatever if you don’t have enough parts for the engine.”

“Yes Pop,” Leo said.

“Yes sir.” Abbie echoed.

A stray thought danced into Leo’s brain.  “Pop?”

His father looked up from his cell phone.  “Hm?”

“This is our apartment,” Leo said.  “Me and Abbie’s, right?”

Leo’s father nodded gingerly, as was his way.  “I should hope so, son.  I don’t think your mother or I need quite so many toys,” he said with gentle sarcasm.  Then he added as an afterthought, “I appreciate the ol’ brown bomber here, though.”  He patted the recliner.  “Very comfortable.  Thank you.”

Pop always had sat on the old comfy chair when he was on babysitting duty.  For some reason it seemed appropriate that he do so right now.  That was good enough for him.

“What do you wanna make?” Abbie asked.

Leo took a couple of blocks and started stacking them.  “I dunno,” he said.  “Let’s just see what happens.”

“So, same plan as usual?”  Abbie stuck her tongue out.

“Yeah!”

And as had always happened since time immemorial, a new unspoken game started between the two.  They played with each other and beside each other at the same time.  “I’m making a pony!” Abbie would say. Her block pile looked vaguely like a four-legged something or another, but MEGO block never had the stability or articulation to properly look like an equine.

“Mine’s a robot!”  If MEGO made for a pour quadruped, it made for a worse robot.  The weight of the blocks made dangling limbs like arms untenable at best.  Leo had to keep reattaching them, and there just wasn’t enough space between the legs to even give it a stick-figure like appearance.

Eventually, both tired of their imperfect creations and the plastic sculptures were sacrificed and knocked over.  Time for the next phase of play.  ”LET’S MAKE A TOWER!”

The two cannibalized their respective projects and started anew.  Building a tower had always been cooler because they could use every single block.  Shape didn’t matter as long as the end result was vaguely square; something that was super easy to accomplish with the tools they had. Once the base was steady enough, the inside became hollow and only the perimeter mattered.

Up and up the tower went. The newly weds went from playing on their knees, to standing and bending over, to fully standing up.  “Look how tall it’s getting, Pop!”

“Mmm-hmmm”

Leo rolled his eyes. His dad was always like that.

“There’s an empty spot right here,”  Abbie pointed out.  “This would be great for a one-spot!”  She was right, of course.  Abbie always was about these things.  Good.  Leo hated one-spots.  They were always so boring and hard to stack on unless you were careful.

As Leo was placing a MEGO at about her chin level, Abbie felt another familiar feeling, but it wasn’t anything close to nostalgia.  “Uh-oh!” she said.  She pulled down the hem of her sun dress.  “I gotta go potty!”   Just like Mama and Daddy had taught her, she ran to the new bathroom and closed (but did not lock) the door.

“Potty?”  Leo mouthed the word as if it were a foreign language.  “Potty?” 

Mom poked her head in from the kitchen. “Leo? Do you need to go potty, or can you hold it?”

“No…?”  Though Leo wasn’t sure which question he was answering.  

Mom smirked as if she knew something he didn’t.  “Okay…”  Then she went back into the apartment’s tiny kitchen.

Leo frowned and looked over to Pop.  Still on his phone reading Facebook articles or whatever boring old people did, Pop was in a world of his own.  Leo took a second and discretely pulled down the front of his pants.  

He still had his Pull-Up on, but something seemed different about it.  Mickey still danced on the front, and the sides were blue (they were boy Pull-Ups), but the little outline of the kite beneath Mickey had disappeared.  And Leo couldn’t figure out why.  

Carefully, he poked the front of his Pull-Up and felt a little squish push back.  It didn’t feel wet, per se, just soft and squishy, like a sponge that had soaked up just a little bit of water.

“Quit poking it,” Pop said, not looking up from his phone.  “Play with your blocks.” Little red roses appeared on Leo’s cheeks.  He hiked his jeans back up and pretended he hadn’t been doing anything.  That didn’t stop his dad from driving the point home.  “It’s not a diaper.  You keep your clothes on over your undies unless you’re in the bathroom.”

“Pop?” Leo asked.  “How old am I?”

His father still didn’t look up.  “Twenty-four and a half.  Why?” 

While Leo was trying to remember whether the faded designs on his Pull-Up were a good thing or a bad thing, Abbie was already yanking down her tights and panties and hiking up her dress so she could sit on the plastic potty like the big girl she was.

She relaxed and sighed as she heard her pee-pee coming out of her and hitting the bottom of the plastic bowl.  She’d never worn Pull-Ups like Leo had.  Mama and Daddy had switched her straight to big girl panties and that had been that.  Only one or two accidents before she got the hang of it, though she still wore diapers at nighttime.  That wasn’t her fault though.  Twenty-four year olds couldn’t be expected to stop wetting the bed all at once.

Her deed done, Abbie pulled up her panties and tights and ran out of the bathroom.  Mommy was already waiting for her.  “Did you use the potty, big girl?”

“Uh-huh!” Abbie nodded. She’d stopped moving but her feet were marching in place, keeping momentum.  The living room was JUST around the corner!

“Did you remember to wipe?” 

“Uh-huh!”  The moment it came out of mouth, Abbie had realized she’d fibbed; even if she didn’t mean to.  

It must have shown on her face.  “Let’s go check,” Mama said.  She took Abbie by the and like the good little girl that she was, Abbie followed.  While Mama inspected the nice clean bathroom like a detective investigating a crime scene Abbie felt immeasurable guilt.  She hadn’t wiped!  She hadn’t and Mama would know!

“Hmmm,” Mama said looking around. “You went pee-pee in the potty, but I don’t see any toilet paper or wipes.  And I didn’t hear you flush.”

Abbie felt herself tearing up.  “I’m sorreeeee.” she accidentally dragged out the last syllable; subconsciously hoping it would get her off the hook.

Mama softened immediately.  “You’re not in trouble, baby girl,” she promised.  “You’re already so mature for your age.  But wiping after you go tinkle in the potty, is something you’ve gotta remember to do.”

“Yes Mama.”  Abbie sulked.  WIthout further argument or ado, she stood still while Mommy took her panties down and grabbed a packet of flushable wipes. Obediently, Abbie bent over and touched her toes so that Mama could wipe her, only making a few funny faces as the cold wipes touched what Mama called her privates (though she didn’t understand why they’d be called that considering).

On the bright side, after she pulled her panties back up, Abbie remembered to go back and was her hands in the sink while Mama emptied the potty into the grown-up toilet.  “Good girl!” Mama praised, after she was done.  “I didn’t even have to remind you!”

A quick kiss on the forehead made Abbie feel like a million bucks  and she waggled her pigtails with delight.   

“Time for luuuuunch”  Daddy called out as they exited the bathroom.

“LUNCH!”  No amount of calls to slow down could stymie Abbie. She’d worked up a real appetite playing with Leo and was only now realizing it.  Likewise,Leo came toddling with his father not far behind.

Four chairs circled around a table in the kitchen where the adults were taking their seats.  Also at the round table were two perfectly sized highchairs; one pink and one blue.  The pink one sat between Mama and Daddy and the blue one was positioned betwixt Mom and Pop.  Each of the newlyweds knew where they’d be sitting and toddled over so they could be seated.

“Up we go sport,” Mom said, putting Leo in his highchair and buckling him in.  Just in case it wasn’t clear who’s it was, the blue bib that she tied around his neck made it clear:  ‘LEO’ it read with a little fork and knife pattern stitched in for good measure.

Leo was so excited to eat that he bounced up and down as much as the buckles and sliding tray would let him, his pants squishing and suddenly warmer in the front than they’d been a few seconds ago.

Abbie, on the other hand landed on her highchair with comfy poof; a bit of baby powder puffing out of her diaper.  “How was she?” Daddy asked. “Any luck?”

“Just wet,” Mommy said. “But I changed her anyways.”

The young woman wrinkled her nose in a way that had nothing to do with the smell of baby powder lingering around her backside.  Diaper?  Changed?  Hadn’t she just been...?  Hadn’t she just gone to the...?

“Mama?” she asked. “Daddy?”

“Yes?’ Daddy responded.  “What is it baby?”

“How old am I?”

All the grown-ups laughed.  “You’re twenty-four,” Daddy said.

“I heard Leo asking the same thing,” Mom remarked.

Pop finally put his phone down.  “Yup. Maybe it’s a coincidence?”

“I doubt that,”  Mama remarked. “These two are always super in sync.”

“Speaking of ‘sync” Daddy chimed in.  “What are we going to sink our teeth into?”

Mom brought out a plate of deli meats and cheeses.  “For us,” she said as she laid the tray out.  “I figured we could help ourselves and make some sandwiches.  Leo and Abbie looked at each other from their highchairs and shrugged.  Roast beef and turkey was okay, they guessed.  “And for the little ones…” 

 A veritable smorgasbord of peanut butter sandwiches landed on their respective trays. Crusts removed; easy to swallow bite sized squares; two different kinds of a jelly and even some Nutella!  “They can feed themselves too!”

Clapping all around, even from their parents.  If Abbie hadn’t just been changed, she’d have been wet just then.  Leo didn’t know it, but any more excitement and he would be close to leaking.

The meal went by in a flash.  The adults talked leisurely, munching on their cold cuts, while the young couple ate with gusto, with crumbs and spreadable condiments smeared anywhere by the end.  “Good thing we put the bibs on ‘em,” Mama chuckled.  

Leo’s Mom agreed.  “Any messier and we’d be better off just having them eat naked like they used to.”

Full and happy, the pair ignored their respective parents’ reminiscing. Enough peanut butter can give anyone a major sugar buzz.  “Can we go back to playing?!” Leo asked.  “Can we? Can we? Can we?”

“I dunno,” his Pop said.  “It’s almost time for both of them. to take an N-A-P in your crib.”

Neither newlywed knew how to spell.  Some things, however, were universal.  “NOOOOOO!” they both wailed overdramatically.  

The adults looked to each other, communicating in that strange special way that only parents of very young children always seemed to be able to. “Okay, okay,” Abbie’s Daddy sighed.   “But first drink your juice first.”

Two sippy cups were foisted into their hands.  Greedily, impatiently, the twenty-four year olds gulped the containers down.  “Mine’s orange!” Leo declared.

 Abbie was halfway through with hers. “MINE’S PURPLE!”

Their parents all laughed. “Purple?” Mama said.

“Purple’s a good description.” Daddy nodded. “You ever tried that stuff?  I wouldn’t describe it as grape.”

Leo felt curious.  “No fair!” he said.  “I want purple juice!”

Now Mom and Pop were chuckling.  “You don’t want that stuff, son,” Pop told him.  “That’s medicine.”

The two tots finished their juice.  “Medicine for what?”” Leo asked.  He was deeply worried that Abbie was sick all of a sudden. 

“It keeps you regular.”  And that was all that Pop seemed to care about on the subject. Neither of the twenty somethings understood.  But the grown-ups didn’t seem particularly concerned.

The mothers started to clean the couple up, wiping the corners of messy mouths in an expert flurry.  In no time at all, the pair were freed from their chairs.  “Speaking of regular.” Mom said.  Her hand brushing up against one bare leg, she stuck two fingers on the inside of her son’s Huggies.  Huggies?  What about Pull-Ups?  Hadn’t he been wearing shorts just a second ago? “Just a little wet,” Mom said.  “Go play.”

Leo didn’t need to hear anymore.  Diaper sagging slightly with weight, he waddle toddled back into the living room, eager to dig into the new toy chest his parents had bought him and Abbie for their wedding.  Huggies? Pull-Ups?  Who cared what the grown-ups called his diapers?  They still had Mickey on them.

“You know that’s gonna make him harder to potty train in the long run,” Abbie’s Mama said; thumbing over to a fast disappearing Leo.  “The letting him play in a wet diaper, I mean” 

“He’s only twenty four,” his Mom waved it off.  “He’s a long ways away from having to worry about that anyways.  And diapers are expensive.”

“True enough,” Mama said.  She gave Abbie a pat on the back of her Pampers and sent her to play with her best friend and husband.

On the threshold of the living room and the kitchen, Abbie stopped and did yet another double take.  Hadn’t she been wearing tights a second ago?  And what about her panties?  Her stance winded by the thickness of her diaper, Abbie lifted her dress and inspected herself.

Sesame Streets’ Abby Cadabby waved her magic wand up at her and Abbie felt nothing but delight.  She must have been imagining those lamb chop panties!  She was only twenty-four; much too young to be wearing big girl underwear!  As for the tights, her Mama probably just didn’t put them back on after changing her.  

Newly moved in, her and Leo were having a fun day inside.  There was no need to dress up all fancy if they weren’t going anywhere.  She didn’t even need a dress that covered all of her diaper (and thus hadn’t worn one).

“LOOK!” Leo yelled. “I GOTS ME A TEDDY BEAR!’” His voice was playfully growly and deep.   He was talking for the teddy.  He sat down on the carpet and popped his paci into his mouth and watched as his wife bent over and dug through the toy chest, heedless that anyone who looked could plainly see her ‘underwear’.

The lavender colored penguin,  “HELLOWOOOO,” Abbie spoke in a strange not-quite English Accent.  She never was terribly good at impressions.  “I’M A BIRDIE BIRD! BIRD!”

“I’M A FAIRY FAIR FAIR!” Leo said.  It was hard to make the ‘B’ sound with a pacifier in one’s mouth.  “WHAT DO YOU WIKE TO FLAY?”

Abbie tilted her stuffie’s head.  It was something her parents did when they wanted to show that they were thinking super hard.  “I LIKE TO PLAY KISSES!”

“I WIKE TO FLAY KISSES TOO!” Leo had his bear agree.  The two made puckering sounds as they shoved their stuffies awkwardly together.  “YOU KNOW WHAT ELTHE I WIKE TO PWAY?”

“WHAT’S THAT?” Abbie’s baby penguin asked, (both the stuffies were babies as far as the two were concerned).

“I wike to pway….TAK!”

And thus the two rugrats began to chase each other awkwardly around the living room, crinkling and crawling on three limbs, so that their stuffed animals could play keep away from each other.  Their laughter went all the way into the kitchen, much to the comfort and relief of their respective parents.

While the two babies were busying themselves with silly games to which only they knew the rules.  “So we’ve got this place for at least a year,” Abbie’s Daddy, Mark, began.  “But there’s not enough room for all of us at once.”  

“Not on the regular,” Mama Tina clarified.  “There’s a master bedroom and a nursery for the kids.  We’ve got our own homes but...”

Martha nodded at the sentiment, “It’d be a shame to separate them.  They're so good together.”

His lunch finished, Ted looked up from his phone.  “Yup.”
 
There was a collective silence.  Only their children crawling and giggling to each other followed.

It was Martha who spoke up again.  “”Why don’t we do a kind of joint custody?” she suggested.

“What do you mean?” Tina asked.  “Like we’re divorced or something?  We’re not even married.”

“But they are,” Mark said.  He looked across to Martha.  “What are you thinking?”

“Well, what if Ted and I watched them on Mondays and Wednesdays…” She paused.  She was making this all up as she went along, too.  “Tina, you and Mark can have them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  And we can trade off three day weekends;  Fridays Saturdsays and Sundays?”

“Okay.., Tina” said. “Okay....one problem though.  Wouldn’t that make it so Mark and me had the babies four days in a row every other week?  We love Leo as much as you love our Abbie, but this is gonna be a lot of work.  On our days here, it’s gonna be like having twins from now on.”

Ever insightful, Ted put his phone down once again.  “Why don’t we just switch out who gets Mondays and Wednesdays and who gets Tuesdays and Thursdays every month along with it?  So some months we’ll each have four day shifts, and other months we’ll each have four days off.”

“Yeah,” Mark said.  “I think we can hash something out.  We’re all responsible adults, here.”

Speaking of responsibility, all four of them froze and held their breath when they realized the newlyweds had gone quiet. Upon creeping into the living room, they needed be.  The exercise and the pacifier had done their job on Leo.  The little boy lay on his back, sucking on his pacifier and cuddling his teddy, his eyelids only half open.  Right next to him, was his blushing bride. Her stuffie was left forgotten, but she was sucking on her thumb.  

“Medicine went right through her,” Daddy chuckled when he saw her lifting her legs up and grunting.  He chuckled a little less when he saw the size of lump forming in the back of her Pampers.  It was his turn.

Martha got her son’s diaper bag and dug out the supplies.  Mark did the same for his daughter. They weren’t all the way moved in, yet and stocking the changing table wasn’t top priority.

Hand in hand, the two twenty-four year olds laid on the floor as their parents changed their diapers.  They weren’t even all the way taped up before both were blissfully asleep, ready to be deposited into their shared crib for an afternoon nap.

How did this happen, you may be asking?  It’s hard to say, really.  It never occurred to anyone involved that twenty-four year olds weren’t actually babies and well past the age of potty training barring a medical condition.  Nor did it occur to anyone that babies couldn’t be married to each other.  It never occurred to anyone who saw this unusual family that

Was it a plan?  Some sinister motivation?  No.  Probably not.  Nothing so complex: Just two families who had known each other for a long time and weren’t quite ready to admit to themselves that their little ones didn’t need them anymore and had become adults.  Just two young adults who had known each other their entire lives, but weren’t ready to start new ones.

So instead, everyone just started over.

Nostalgia can be a powerful thing like that.