How to manage a teenager stage managing a musical, a nine year-old plus papa skiing, a younger teenager performing in a choral concert and a four year-old likely to be disruptive during the concert in the church? You depend on the kindness of your friends.
Saskia ended up at Addy’s while I dashed over to see Lucien with Whole Children’s Joyful Chorus at First Churches. The teen oversaw Grease and the nine year-old zipped down the slopes.
The plan was for me to return to Addy’s and hang with kids and parents there for a while. Addy was having a day. One important thing about preschoolers and play dates: sometimes someone is having a day. You try your best, especially since the weather was just warm enough to enjoy kind of being outside. When bikes—including a little which girl should try which bike, although the obvious truth was bigger girl, bigger bike, smaller girl, smaller bike worked best—failed Addy’s mom made a valiant attempt to create a hopscotch obstacle course. Even that quite brilliant course was a no go.
Sad to leave Addy, our fantastic Plan B was (of course) a stop at Herrell’s. Then, Saskia had her moment when her parents left together for a fundraiser and she didn’t want to be left with her darling brothers. Wibbly Pig was the solution—of sorts.
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Myself, I get the sometimes you have a day thing. I’m glad the week of the musical is about to be—set strike notwithstanding—behind us and hoping this day of spring forward goes okay (it started early and demanding). I’ve been enjoying these things to counterbalance my personal sometimes you have a day:
- I started a Tumblr and am having fun reading and deciding what I care to post. Bookmark it for when you’re bored or follow it or something.
- I am almost done reading Katie Rosman’s wonderful If You Knew Suzy and last night wept and read. I put it down for a little while, solely in order to stretch it out.
- I have spent time hanging with my peeps, maybe even a little more than usual. I like my peeps. And they are really good to me.
- Although writing condolence notes isn’t happy exactly, I wrote two this week—am about to write another—and also sent some thank you notes. Regardless of feeling I’m writing blather when sending messages around sadness that cannot be consoled, I know reaching out beats not reaching out. If the postal service goes down in flames, I’m going with it. There are things best not left to email.
- I am, however, queen of the “check-in” email. I send a few like that regularly. It’s like real life hanging only different—and also pretty fabulous in its way.
- Filing under lowbrow, and for reasons I cannot entirely put into words, I watched an episode (I am way behind) of Grey’s Anatomy yesterday that was as close to an episode of ER as GE has ever gotten—and all the crisis and trauma and sadness mixed together was, very oddly, exactly what I needed. For those who watch the series, it was the episode just after Henry died on the operating table and a car hit the ambulance transporting the premature baby during a storm. Loved it. There you have it.
