I had a feeling that the packages would arrive yesterday, so I kept calling home to fruitlessly check our answering machine for messages. Finally, late in the afternoon, I called Eric to let him know that I had a hair appointment and would be late for dinner. "All right," he said, "and, by the way, my mom got the package."

"Well, what did she think?"
"She was happy."
"But what did she say??"
"She said congratulations."
"Honey, I want word for word recollection!"

Eventually I managed to drag it out of him. Rita had called him at work, said that she was looking at the "Grandma's" and "Grandpa's" chips, and wanted to know if we were hinting at what she thought we were. She was tickled when he said yes, and said, "Well, now I have to buy two of everything!" They'll be grandparents twice in less than six months; what a rush for her!

Rita called again this morning to give me her congratulations. It turns out that she had actually stared at the chips for a while, then finally called Ronnie to ask whether he thought it was a message of impending grandparenthood. His response: "Well, of course it is. That's the way those two do things!"

My parents worked until later in the day, and thus didn't open their package until about nine o'clock last night. I was a little more nervous about their ability to interpret the message; we had only been able to locate one bag of the "Grandpa's Choice" chips in all of Toledo, so we had packed a giant stuffed Granddaddy Longlegs spider instead. I was hoping that the fact that my mother and I tend to think exactly alike would enable her to interpret the clues without too much trouble.

The phone rang, and I growled at Eric when he tried to answer it before me. Mom's voice said, "So, a spider and a bag of chips. What does this mean?"

I winced and tried to talk her through the puzzle. "Look at the chips, Mom. What are they?"

"Grandma's Choice. And a Black Widow spider..."
"It's not a Black Widow, Mom! What does it look like?"
"It's black."
"Mom, it's got a little bitty body and long legs. What kind of spider is that?"
"...a Granddaddy Longlegs?"
"YES!"

Then there was silence. After a moment, I heard my father's voice, in the background, say, "Is she trying to tell us that we're going to be grandparents?" Mom didn't repeat the question to me, so after a pause, I said, "Yes."

Mom screamed. Then she laughed. Then she said, "How did this happen?" I heard my father say, "Um, we know how it happened," and she laughed some more. I'd say that they're more than pleased. She pelted me with questions about how I feel, then demanded that I post the news immediately to the family listserv. (Don't credit them with too much geekiness; Eric and I roped them into this particular institution. Of course, to their credit, there was no kicking or screaming; even Grandma managed to catch on.) I told her I would, but she apparently couldn't wait; when I woke up and checked my mail this morning, I found:

Subject: Listen up

Hey, guess what! I'm soon going to be married to a grandfather. In order for that to happen, one of my kids would have to have a child. Carrie was elected and is ready to take office in early June. Yay!!!! Enough political talk. Carrie and Eric told us they're pregnant by sending us a box with GRANDMA shearer's potato chips and a GRANDADDY longlegs in it. Thanks for all your prayers. They worked. It was really something special when Mom called me, "Grandma," when I called her. Now we're looking forward to seeing what color the baby's hair is. Eric's parents will get 2 grandchildren this year; the other is due in January. Keep Carrie in prayer that everything goes well. Yay!!!! again.
Dixie

Gee, Mom, a bit eager, are we?

There have been a few reluctant visitors. Yesterday afternoon, three small girls came in, all dressed in dance outfits, and the two older girls ran to decorate the walls. The littlest one followed, but as soon as she saw her sisters' hands emerge from the tubs, dripping with paint, she shrieked and ran from the room. It took her mother a hair-raising five minutes to find her daughter's safe hiding place.

On the whole, though, the project has been a success. There have been no incidents of painted clothing or digestive tracts, which is always the mark of a good art experiment with children. And just think, these kids will get to see their handprints at the library for a whole year! Think of the entertainment value there!

I've been mulling over the notion of freebies for the convention. A while back, it had been my full intention to bring something nifty to distribute, but the combination of exhaustion and Eric's recent financial crackdown has rather put a damper on those notions. Besides, I couldn't come up with anything witty. Am I a bad person for not bringing anything to share? Probably. I can't feel too horrible about it, though; I'm just excited to be going in the first place.