Carlos and i visited my parents in Detroit, we drove to Ohio to meet Sergio and the family, we spent a few days in Chicago. Coming back to Michigan was sort of surreal: it felt familiar and strange at the same time. Familiar, because i've lived there for 20 + years, and strange because its no longer the "me" that lived there. I was experiencing this with brand new eyes of today, along with my soulmate right next to me. That felt so beautiful, so magical, so intense!
Seeing my parents and their house made me reminisce about my grandmother, how i could almost visualize her there with us. It felt bitter sweet.
Friday evening we met up with all of my deer Rouge peeps. It felt overwhelming, as i really wanted to be able to talk with each one of them individually, but in the group setting that is just not possible, so i had to enjoy whatever i had.
The next morning we had a beautiful breakfast with my parents, and then C and i went to explore downtown, take pictures, and have general fun, which concluded at Noble Fish. C enjoyed the city, and sushi, and i think was able to be a good tour guide. But the most important part was that i was able to share my previous experiences with him, to "write him into" some of my favorite experiences, to share them as much as possible. Those memories now feel more sunshiny and more special because C was there. It was an important trip to take.
The next morning we went to Kensington park with the Gesses. We walked around the lake and had a picnic. C was able to see how wonderful the Gesses are, and how important they were to our family. It was a super enjoyable day. I felt very encouraged, as they showed interest in my daughter, and shared some of the similar experiences of people close to them.
The next morning we drove out back to Chicago, via Ohio. We stopped to see C's brother's family, but didn't stay there very long.
Chicago met us with beautiful weather! We stayed in a very nice hotel in a perfect location that was close to everything we wanted to do. A walking architecture tour was very informative. We learned about the development of sky scrapers and learned to recognize different elements of style. Then we relaxed on the river tour, although not in good spirits, as some disagreements about time management caused a bit of a tiff. At the end of the day we went to the observation tower and enjoyed very beautiful views of the city. Finally we were able to talk out our differences and went to have a nice dinner at some Italian place. In the morning we stopped to see a Monet exhibit, and eat lunch at a famous hot dog place before heading to the airport.
Another weekend we ventured to Temecula wine country, planning to bike around. After the first winery C suggested that driving would be more efficient and would allow us to visit more places. C enjoyed learning about wine, as he has a sensitive taste palate, he would be a good candidate for a true connoisseur, given time and experience, - a much better one than i could ever be. We bought some bottles that we loved, and really enjoyed ourselves. The only problem was the starter on Odyssey that was starting to go bad, so periodically we couldn't start our van. At the end of the day, when we packed in front of the Motel 6 office, were we had a reservation (i decided not to spend zillion dollars on resort-type lodging in that area, but go cheap), our van would no longer start at all. We tried a bunch of stuff, but had to decide to take care of it in the morning. The motel was totally creepy: what made it awful was strange homeless-looking people that occupied one of the downstairs rooms. They were all looking like junkies, going in and out, their door was perpetually open. I think this really soured me toward any 'motel' type lodging in the future, at least in resort places. The next morning we biked to a hardware store, got a hammer and something to bang the starter with, and in a joint effort we were able to get it going! Yey!!! C decided we might as well visit more wineries, and we went to discover one of his favorites "Duffy", were he enjoyed not only the wine, but the beautiful girl that did our tasting, and her family winery stories. We did not shut off the engine as we went from place to place, in fear that we would end up stranded again. We came back home with a bunch of wine, tired and happy. Of course, the next day C worked on the replacement of the starter on Odyssey.
For Mother's day my beautiful, thoughtful, caring C brought me flowers, and it made me feel so very special!!! I was actually anxious prior to that day, its a weird holiday for me, because i definitely feel like a mother, but have no such title. It sort of makes everything uncomfortable, both for me and for S, i think. To celebrate we went to an Oxnard farm, ate and picked a boat load of blueberries, then had a picnic and flew a kite at the cross hill. The day was super windy, which made it difficult for me to move around in the fly-away skirt that i was wearing. I wore it because i really wanted to have beautiful pictures of us on Mother's day, and because i am self-conscious about my weight nowadays, wearing pants was not desirable. But what makes for a pretty picture sometimes does not make for a pretty memory. C was uncomfortable and annoyed at my high-exposure flying skirt and made it known. I struggled to keep my spirits up and concentrate on enjoying S, as she was having a blast with the kite. I think the lesson to extract out of this is, worry about experiences more than about photo memories.
At the end of May we went to a carnival called 'Strawberry fair''. S and i twirled until we almost puked with Sari leading the way. She was very enthusiastic for all of the rides, even some that were a little too vigorous for her. C mostly just watched us, as he didn't feel temped to be perpetually rotated. The day was a success, and much cheaper than LA fair in September.
In other May's accomplishments, Sari had her first lego experience, it was nice to see her build stuff. She built a house, and seemed to 'get' what lego is all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment