Sorry I've been absent lately. I've been a little swamped.
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| I actually do have my hands full. |
I have about six half-written aspirationally-profound blog posts, but I just can't get my act together to finish them right now. So, instead, I'm posting a picture of me and a baby and a baby crocodile, and cutting and pasting an excerpt from my last letter to Mercina. Which is actually a little funny, because often when I write to Mercina, I cut and paste from the blog. Hmmmmm...
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Mimo got home this afternoon from a week in Budapest, and I went to pick her up from airport. Since I had to go all the way to Dulles, I made plans last week to spend the day with friends at the Air and Space Museum annex, to feed Hettie's surprisingly long-lived, (Tom-fueled), obsession with becoming an astronaut. But then the government shut down, and it took the museum along for the ride. So instead I got in touch with my old Yale roomie, Lindsay, who now lives in Leesburg. Even though she's a million months pregnant, she's a total sweetheart and sent me the name of a restaurant between her place and the airport where we could spend a couple hours catching up. At the appointed hour, the kids and I were waiting and SO eager to see her. And she sent a txt "I'm here!" And I sent one back "me too!" But neither of us saw the other. Which actually made perfect sense because we were in different branches of the same restaurant 30 minutes apart. And it was my bad. And at that point, neither of us had the time or energy to schlep our impressive entourages over to where the other one was. We're going to try again next week....
On the bright side, I was right next to a MicroCenter, and Dave had desperately wanted me to pick up an Ethernet cable so he could finally mount a TV in our kitchen. So I trundled the kids over there, and we found it, and while I was standing in line, the guys in front and behind me both together started lecturing me about how I should really buy it online at a place called monoprice.com, because it would save me $40 and I could get it in any color I wanted rather than the bright blue that the store carried (and I actually just checked right now and they were totally right), so I called Dave and he said to abort mission. Which was annoying.
We headed over to the airport, and I was worried because I just knew I was going to have a hard time finding Mimo, and she would end up frustrated and in a cab (it's happened before!). So I called around to make sure I had the right number for the friend who was flying with Mimo. It turned out that I had the right phone number, but the wrong flight information -- they arrived an hour LATER than I'd been told (which would have given me plenty of time to connect with Lindsay). But by this point, we were already right next to the airport and Phinny and Willa were asleep in their car seats, so we just waited.
BUT. Once they finally did land, actually connecting was really quite painless. And Mimo was just brimming with sweetness. And we had the nicest trip home. (Except for a quick squat-pot on the side of the 66 during rush hour traffic. That actually wasn't the best...)
And I realize this is all very rambling. But I just thought I'd share, because, really, it was a wonderful day. I had such a nice lunch with the kiddies, and at least 3 or 4 people came over and told me how darling and well-mannered they are. sometimes that really is just heaven to hear. And even sitting in the car at the gas station was genuinely fun. Hettie and I had the nicest chat about life. She is such a charming, intelligent little girl, and sometimes it's hard to find a quiet minute just to see what's going on inside her sweet little brain. And during our many long car rides, she and Phinny sang along to ALL the songs on the latest Sandra Boynton CD that Momo gave them -- it really might be the cutest thing ever. my heart wants to burst just thinking about it.
Sometimes the weird crazy days with lots of disappointment and wasted time end up being surprisingly satisfying. Because there is something about being anxiously engaged that is inherently valuable, regardless of the outcome of your labors.
And it's important to have priorities -- of course it would have been NICE to spend the day at the museum, and to see Lindsay, and to get the TV finally working and maybe to hit up the outlet stores rather than sit in a parking lot... BUT the most important thing was to get Mimo home in a spirit of love and appreciation, and also to spend some meaningful time with the kids. And on those two accounts, the day was a mad success.
