My parents are getting temporary, and possibly permanent custody, of their 2 month old great nephew. We found out this morning.

As Mom said earlier today while she continued cleaning and planning Saturday's Christmas party without hardly missing a beat, "Life goes on."

I sat on the kitchen stool, gaping at her as I slowly ate ice cream. Self-medicating with sugar and allowing myself to spiral into a shock at how different our lives were about to be was my plan. Hers was to continue planning the party and...clean.

Jon came in from the garage with grocery bags full of food for the party. He set them on the counter and paused to watch me carefully take a bite of ice cream.

"You enjoying that?" He smirked.

I didn't respond, just stared at the two boxes of Jiffy muffin mix peeking out from one of the bags. Jiffy. Mom had the right mind to tell Jon to buy Jiffy? Mom had the right mind to tell Jon to buy ANYTHING?

Mom was putting food in the closet at the speed of light. She suddenly looked panicked, started going through the bags, then saw the boxes of Jiffy. "Ah! There it is." She turned back to the closet without taking the bag with her.

My eyes glazed over and the blue print went out of focus. Jiffy. Jesus, what was happening? For once I didn't feel like I was being over-dramatic.

"But, Mom, it's a BABY. A BABY is coming here tomorrow."

"So? People bring babies home everyday."

I roll my eyes and can't help but laugh at her flippant use of logic in this situation.

"Mom. Those people KNOW for a while-they are prepared--

I was sputtering. I threw my hands out to emphasize the words I hoped would show my mother that I was completely freaking, and desired some validation that freaking was normal and acceptable in this situation.

"We haven't had time! We found out this morning."

"I've taken care of babies." Mom said with an eerie calm as she lowered her eyes and vigorously started scrubbing the counters.

I watched her, amazed at how she wasn't freaking, which only made me want to freak out more at her willingness to avoid the fact that our whole lives were suddenly changed.

I slid off the stool and climbed up the stairs.