Road Trip (Here comes the sun)

October 25, 2004 | Category:

Dear People of California and the Pacific Northwest,

Sun received in excellent condition.

I am out to hunt free-ranging Republicans per our agreement.

Thank you for the prompt delivery,
Signed,
Elizabeth
aka Corporate Mommy

P.S. While I am roving the streets with my butterfly net and Phil Donahue tapes - here is the story of our weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday night we drove to Indiana, Bear and I.

I have a good friend who lives there; her oldest and mine are the same age. Our boys talk on the phone once a week or so. One of these days SNL needs to drop one of the lip-synching acts and do a skit on 3-year-olds talking on the phone:

Boy1: I just wanted to say Hi and I watched Digimon this morning.

Boy2: Spiderman is my favorite, he has a web shooter.

Boy1: You come to my house tomorrow. I have 2 shields and I play knights.

Boy2: I am eating spaghetti for dinner.

It was a slurpy, slidey drive down in the shiny night. We got there just as Bear was falling asleep and I carried him into the guest bed quicky, but it took a few minutes to talk him back to sleep. Then my girlfriend and I stayed up until all hours talking. It felt so good to have juicy, grown-up, non-work-related, non-kid-related conversation!

We're of different faiths, so we talked about that. It is amazing at the core how more alike than different we are. The rituals are different, but the intents are so similar.

Saturday morning, of course, the piper had to be paid. I was dragging around like a zombie. The kids were bouncing off the walls. As. In. Boing.Boing.BOING.

So we packed up the tribe and hauled ourselves over to the Indiana Children's Museum.

Once we drove there (40 minutes) and found a parking space (30 minutes putting through the parking garage) and bought tickets (5 minutes) and fed the kids (45 minutes) and taken them all to the bathroom (10 minutes) - they were all just this side of spastic.

No.

Wait.

The other side of spastic.

After our bathroom run, Bear and I happened across a window overlooking the rest of the museum's campus.

Me: What do you think it looks like?

Bear: Um... I dunno.

Me: What shape is it like?

Bear: Round.

Me: What things are round?

Bear: Baseballs...ice cream cone...hat?

Kid next to Bear, loudly: It's a breast, kid! A breast! With a nipple on top!

Bear, turning to the kid: No. No it is not a nipple. Nipples go DOWN. For sucking. Silly!

(Bear was referring to breastfeeding babies. There are several in his sphere and he discusses them with me. But the look on the other kid's face? Priceless.)

The museum was too crowded; I'm sure it was well over Fire code maximum. Total chaotic loud pandemonium. And not in a good way.

Bear crawled up a treehouse exhibit and then couldn't get down because the ladder was so backed up with kids scrumped on top of each other.

He stood, crying, at the platform. His little friend (my hero) elbowed a path for Bear to the railing, where he then climbed over and jumped like the end of Princess Bride...

floating into my arms with a trusting, teary face. I caught him, and managed to pull him into a hug before my knees gave out.

40 pounds falling? Weighs A LOT.

We found some quiet in a little room that had a black light in it. Remember discovering black light?

Overall, it was a long, full, hectic day. In the end sum - it was a good visit for the boys and a good visit for the moms. And as I packed up the car to leave, that pastel sunset had crept into the space bewteen the land and the clouds.

I pulled into our driveway just before 1AM. CD came out and did his "stealth daddy" bit - only he is able to move Bear from one spot to another without Bear rousing.

Then I was on CD like white on rice. Being home is a word that belongs to nothing else, because it is a singular feeling. Warm in the veins and giddy. Happytastic.

I posted a prayer for sun, and we went to bed.

The next moring it was a miracle.

OK, two miracles.

Red Sox? Kicking ass.

And?

There were sunbeams in my den.

Ahhhhhhhh.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and slipped out to the front porch. And yes, there it was in all its glory.

The sun.

The People of California had come through on my order! (With thanks to the people of the Pacific Northwest for offering.)

I held my face up and smiled it in.

CD, up a ladder digging leaves out of the gutter and Bear, raking away, stopped and laughed at my joy. CD climbed down and grabbed me, kissing me in front of God and the entire neighborhood right there in the driveway. I stood in my flannel jammy bottoms and hair sloppy from sleep, basking in the joy of the warm sunshine.

It was another great weekend. It was another small step, back to good.

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