Thursday, June

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Sunday, April 27, 2013 (and a little story from the morning of Monday, April 28)

Every year there is that one day in late winter or early spring (maybe late spring in North Dakota!) where you walk outside, feel the warmth of sunshine against your skin, and think "This is the best day ever." Friday was warm but we were in the car or working. So Saturday was that day for us. Walks outdoors and playing on the playground. Coming out of the indoor pool, warmed up by the sun's rays and the air around us. Sunday, cooler and in the 60s, we nevertheless still felt the residual effects of "first day of spring" euphoria. We took a family trip to the zoo. We have no pictures to show for our best day of the year so far but that part of the story will come in a moment.

Both kids were dressed up. One in an aqua and light green cotton dress with a tutu and the other in a light pink and orange striped sundress. As we watched them play on the playground, we saw that the one in aqua must've grown a lot since last year. That dress was way too short! The other dress looked adequately long. We deliberated for about four seconds and then agreed I should swoop them up and swap their outfits. A little concerned there might be a mini revolt, I nevertheless took on the challenge. The kids must be growing up. They understood what I was saying and agreed. I whisked them off to the restroom, quickly exchanged their outfits, and voila a bad clothing choice had been resolved just like that. The smoothness of that interaction added to the joy and happiness of the day. The four of us were together (unfortunately, an extreme rarity), we were enjoying the outdoors, everyone was amenable. It was a grand day.

We continued our journey through the zoo, eating ice cream and laughing our way through a mini-meal of junk food (hot dogs, ice cream and popcorn). They loved the animal photos on the wall and spent almost as much time enjoying those as they did the live animals behind bars that we saw as we were outdoors. (actually, I think they liked the photos even more in how much vibrant color and detail they could see, including facial expressions on the adorable animals!)

Julia snapped tons of photos during our journey, reminding me of her maturity and huge sense of responsibility. She remembered each time to wrap the tie around her wrist just in case she dropped the camera (she still remembers how Emma dropped mine less than a year ago, relegating that silver camera to the landfill and how I dropped mine outside a couple of months ago in water which caused the blue replacement to go to the landfill as well . . . ). It was truly a glorious day.

I had a few errands to run and brought Ray and the kids to a park. I gave Ray a package of tissues for Emma's running nose and he felt he was set. I thought the day was a little chilly though and forced my reluctant husband (who was periodically on the phone with work) to take Emma's beautiful pink coat. It was a coat we had received from a friend of his for Julia's birth. It was a beautiful fuzzy pink jacket unlike any I had ever seen. Not fleece, but almost like it was made from pink clouds. Just stunningly beautiful. In fact, the zipper was broken and I don't think Julia ever got to wear it when she was very little. I agonized over whether to get the zipper fixed because I got quotes around $30 and didn't think it was worth it. I finally got a quote a couple of months ago for a $20 fix and after hemming and hawing, I finally decided to move forward with the fix. I didn't regret it. The coat was stunning and just in time for spring. Although the sleeves were a bit short on Julia, even she could wear it occasionally in a pinch. I also made Ray take my camera because I wouldn't need it at Sam's and besides the girls were looking so darling and the weather was so perfect and the colors on the playground so vibrant that it would be a shame for him not to capture any photos from their playground escapades.

I headed off. My wonderful parking karma endures. I was just pulling into one of the most coveted parking spots at Sam's Club, when I got an urgent call from Ray. Emma had to go to the bathroom and the restroom at the park was padlocked shut. Aaargh. I rushed (safely) back, swooped them up, and brought them to the condo to go to the bathroom.

Monday, April 28, 2013

Fast forward to our next morning at 5:45 am as I'm packing up and leaving. The temperature had dropped dramatically, and I asked Ray where Emma's pink jacket was. "With the camera." Uh, dear, I don't think you ever returned the camera to me yesterday. UH-OH! We both realized instantaneously that camera and jacket (and the package of tissues) were left at the park. I rushed off at 6 am and drove around looking for those things, knowing full well that the likelihood would be low. I made some phone calls to the park district and to the zoo and also looked for a virtual lost and found online but to no avail. We were delayed 30 minutes heading out, and both Julia and I were also disappointed for the loss of the day's photos. (wow, she has such a handle on priorities!)

As we finally get on the road for a longish trip home, we were settling down and the proverbial big sigh in the air seemed to just take place. From way back in the car, her little voice pipes up, "Uh . . . mom. If I were a mom and my husband lost my camera like that, I'd be mad." She has been getting so good at expressing herself and using words like "disappointed, angry, sad, and mad." I smiled. I told her that, "I'm not mad at Dad. He works really hard. Mistakes happen, and he feels bad enough. Besides Dad never gets mad at me when I lose or break something. He knows that I try really hard, just like he does, and sometimes mistakes happen."

Julia: "Dad never gets mad at you?"

Mama: "No, not really."

Julia: "What if you spilled water on his computer and ruined it?" (she knows how darling that computer is to him!)

Mama: "No. Not even then. He wouldn't get mad at me even then. He'd be understanding."

Julia: (silently thinks for about 30 seconds and then says. . . ) "What if you did something at our house and ruined the kitchen and the whole house?"

Mama: "Well, it wouldn't be good. But he'd know it was an accident and even then he wouldn't be mad."

Julia: (more silence, then . . . ) "What if you did something to hurt our house and the neighbor's house!?" (how cool is that that she understands that responsibility to your fellow citizens is a more noble, higher priority than to yourself?)

Mama: "Not even then. Dad is very understanding and loves me very much and would know it was a mistake and wouldn't be mad at me."

Julia: (probably 3-5 minutes of silence as she is obviously thinking about what could possibly be the most important thing to dad in the world) "What if you did something to hurt me?"

Well, that one stumped me. She's a smart cookie and did find the top of Dad's priority/importance list! She made me laugh. Despite the chill in the air, she made this day just as warm as (correction, even warmer than!) the ones preceding.

PS - I bought a replacement camera. Looking on the bright side of things, that means I will have had the pleasure of enjoying four different color cameras in the space of about eight months. The silver one (broken by Emma), the blue one (ruined by me), the black one (left at the park by Ray), and now a darling red one which is on its way to me from eBay! (we can't be mad at Julia if she ruins that one . . . I see this camera also comes in gold!)