So....

...just how rare are naturally conceived identical triplets?  Between one-in-a-million and one-in-ten-million pregnancies.  Mrs. Pike, aren't you just so lucky???  Tess, don't you wish that was you?

#28 Welcome Back, Stacey!

I hate the flu.  ‘nough said.

The fates seem to think that I need to snark books about divorce, so of course I draw this one.  Hoorah.  Suffice it to say, it’s hard to read.  Also, the title kind of ruins the book; she doesn’t actually make her decision to move back to Stoneybrook until toward the end.  There really isn’t any suspense when the title is Welcome Back, Stacey and you see her friends (very very awkward looking friends) welcoming her home.  Seriously, Hodges.  Claudia looks like Tiger Wood’s sister and (I’m just assuming here) Mary Anne and Kristy are standing REALLY close to Claudia and waving awkwardly.

The book starts with Stacey shaking herself back to reality while she’s sitting.  She’s worrying about her parents fighting again instead of paying attention to the children.  Terrific!  We get her babysitting background and how she is the only person in her whole building who likes to sit so she gets a lot of jobs.  She’s also moved twice in the space of a year and wasn’t too thrilled about that.  Now her parents are fighting.  Her charges’ parents come home, pay her and she heads back to her place. 

As soon as she steps off the elevator, she hears her parents fighting.  They are really going at it, fighting about how much time Mr. McGill spends at the office, how much money Mrs. McGill is spending at the stores, how she wants them to move out of the city and how he’s not moving and commuting.  Stacey decides to run and visit Laine; she can’t go into the apartment, not with her parents fighting.  She runs to her apartment, crying and scares the living daylights of her friend.  Laine tries to calm her down and recommends she call Claudia. 

The entirety of chapter three is the exposition of each member of the BSC.  The. Entire. Chapter.

She calls, Claudia answers and instantly knows something’s wrong.  She has a small argument with Kristy over the use of her phone during meeting time, and is back on.  Stacey pours out her story and Claudia has no words of wisdom for her, so she passes her off to Dawn.  Stacey feels a little funny sharing family business with her, but Dawn kind of weedles out of her what has been happening.  Stacey changes the subject and asks about Jeff.  Then she talks to Mary Anne, Kristy, Jessi and Mal before she has to head home.  Laine assures her that her parents are probably making up and having a romantic dinner.

Stacey arrives home and her parents are quiet, not talking, but then they ask to talk to her.  Bad sign.  They pretty much just say, “We’re getting a divorce.”  Not that it’s a total surprise.  They cite irreconcilable differences and say that they really don’t love each other any more and that their marriage counselor advised and amicable divorce.  Mommy Moment:  It’s really hard to snark this book.  As a parent and a second wife, I have some very firm beliefs about divorce.  Marriage takes work and it’s terrible when there are issues that make it necessary.  But I think in this throw away society people don’t work at it and throw it away.  You have to be willing to make changes to your own life, to give something up.  If you can’t think of why you’d want to do it, look at your kids.  I have three reasons to make changes to myself for the good of my family.  Ok, off soapbox.

Stacey locks herself in her room for the night, in spite of her parents’ continual attempts to come in.  She gets up, gets dressed (short red pants with purple suspenders 0ver a bright yellow and black sweatshirt, purple push down socks  and a pair of red high tops) and ignores her parents.  She dawdles to school but doesn’t get into trouble.  She surmises she’ll get special treatment for awhile and decides to take advantage of it.  She wanders around downtown and finally arrives home around 6.  She tries to avoid her parents, but there’s a note taped to her door telling her to go back to the living room to talk to her parents.  Mommy Moment: Whoo-hoo!  They tell her the arrangements of the divorce, including the fact that she’s going to be in charge of choosing who the live with.  Mommy Moment: Boo.  Don’t make her choose between the two of you!!  Her dad is staying in the city, but her mom is thinking about moving back to Stoneybrook.  Mommy Moment:  Now we know she’s really trying to get Stacey to live with her.  Stacey tells them she can’t decide until she knows where they’re going to live. 

After dinner she retreats to her room and calls her friends, starting with Laine.  Laine begs her to stay in the city.  She calls Claudia next, who, of course, begs her to come back to Stoneybrook.  Then she calls Dawn for advice, who advises her on what’s going to happen.

Stacey has a sitting job for the Walkers (Grace and Henry) and once they’re asleep, she starts to ponder where she’s going to live  While she’s thinking she realizes Dad will be hurt if she lives with Mom and vice versa.  Mommy Moment: Again, boo.  Don’t make her choose between the two of you!!!  As she’s thinking about that she decides it would be better if she didn’t have to make the decision if her parents were back together.

So she tries a bunch of ideas to get them back together, but they see through it and she ends up in trouble by the end.  Good try, Stace.

Her mom heads to Stoneybrook to look for houses and Stacey comes along.  Her mom recommends that she call Claudia to come along.  They all go house hunting, see a few houses, but none of them really grab them.  There’s a house at the end that they like, that’s a little out of the price range but right behind the Pikes.  They don’t make any commitments.

Stacey stays and spends the night in Stoneybrook having a sleepover with the BSC. She has fun, but misses New York and feels a little guilty about it.

A few days later her dad comes home announcing that he’s found a place.  Her mom is slightly stunned (I think perhaps it her officially that her marriage really is over) and Stacey cries that she didn’t think that they would really get a divorce.  Sigh…poor kid.

A few days later her Mom calls the real estate agent in Stoneybrook and tells them to put the house back on the market because she doesn’t know if she needs a place that big.  Stacey makes out her own pros and cons list and decides to move to Stoneybrook.  And she’s right; her dad is hurt. 

They pack and argue and get on with life.  Poor kid.  She says goodbye to all her friends and the kids she sits for, has one last NYC breakfast, courtesy of Laine (it’s not like she’s never coming back) and gets on the road with her mom back to Stoneybrook.

Of course, everyone’s there with a banner and to give hugs, but when the hubbub dies down, it’s just Claudia and Stacey together.  Stacey admits she’s not 100% happy to be back and she’s not sure she made the right decision.  Claudia very sensibly points out that Stacey didn’t be asked to be put in this position; her parents did that.  She did the best she could.  Go Claudia!

One week later, Stacey and her mom finally get the house unpacked, even though it looks pretty bare.  Stacey’s mom asks how school is going and things are going well. She leaves to sit for Charlotte J and then heads to a BSC meeting.  It’s pretty much the same old same old: Mal complains about being 11, Kristy turns dictatorial and they get some jobs.  As Mal and Stacey ride their bikes home, Mal asks if she’s glad to be back.  Stacey says she is, but she knows deep down inside that she’ll always miss her dad and that there will always be something missing.  Mommy Moment: and it never goes away.  Just ask my stepkids.