When weather like this happens along my first thought is always "We Must Not Waste It." Anything that keeps me from being outside is an annoyance at best, imprisonment at worse. Thankfully today the worst was a very crowded Kids Kuts* waiting area where I amused the children as we waited for our turn and 45 excruciating minutes later we were free.**
Of course when it is almost 70 degrees in November we are not the only ones to think of going outside.*** We headed to the local petting zoo/nature center to play outside. It was crowded but I expected it to be. Fine. What I had forgotten was that no one had school this week (?) and so there were lots of big kids there. Big mean kids. Big mean kids leading my child astray. I am shaking my head over it but perhaps some day it will be me dragging my big kids to the little kids' gathering places.****
But nothing can take away my happiness on a day like today. Not weeks of overwhelming fatigue, not the annoying boys at Kids Kuts (I hereby swear not to take my 12 year old to a place called Kids Kuts where the little kids sit on airplanes and animals to have their hair cut), not the wild children running amok in the glorious sunshine. Z. swung happily for quite some time, we went on the hike which is my favorite part, watched the porcupines sun themselves, and ate lunch al fresco.*****
Tomorrow is to be just as lovely. Saturday even better. I can't wait.
*I need not mention that the name pains me. I do not want to take my children to a place so named, but the options are limited and I am tired.
**I am fascinated by the dynamics of waiting. Even though I should have run from Kids Kuts after we went in and realized how long the wait was going to be apparently I had already emotionally and mentally committed myself to Haircuts Today. Otherwise we wouldn't have sat there wasting the weather. It took 10 painful minutes (each tick and tock a stab in my heart) for the stylist to adjust the towel around the neck of the 5-year-old b-r-a-t who was the second child we watched with glazed eyes while his mother kindly explained that he didn't like to have his hair cut.
***Nor should we be. I used to take restlessness to an art form when I was forced to work indoors on a day like today. Along with your birthday days like today should be automatically granted as free days.
****But I doubt it.
*****Lunch was not the highlight today. I did something I promised myself many times during my childhood that I would not do--I fed E. one of those PB&J sandwiches that has sat around too long, the bread smushed and misshapen, the jelly having seeped into the one side of the bread, the smell a little fusty as it is removed from the sandwich baggie. He was hungry from his outdoor exertions and ate it without comment.******
******I like to imagine that if I ever live somewhere where I can eat outside the majority of the time year round I will have found my happy place. Perhaps not, but for now it works.
Move to SoCal! I have a huge laundry list of complaints about living in Los Angeles, but it always comes down to one thing- the weather. It truly does make life better. I spent my last cold winter on the East Coast 7 years ago and though I miss spring and fall, I still don't miss winter.
Posted by: Lisa at November 9, 2006 11:37 PMI totally fed Zen one of those old pb&j's today, too. I had a board meeting at the school, and he was hanging around complaining of being hungry. There was a lunch bag in his cubby and, honest to God, I have NO IDEA how old it was. I fished out the pb&j (which was squished in the middle from sitting under an apple) and gave it to him.
The shame.
Posted by: Mrs Figby at November 10, 2006 1:36 AMWhat is it with those playgrounds? I've had two not fun encounters where a group of moms is over under the picnic shelter blabbing away while their kids terrorize everyone else. What gives? The second I would open my mouth I'm sure the mom would finally get off her behind and chew me out. So we left. And I hated it.
Posted by: Heather G at November 10, 2006 10:20 AMIsn't it funny how one person's "Happy Place" can be another's hell.
I despise eating outside. I wish I never had to do it again.
I won't bore you with the list of things I hate about it.
Ok, justa few. The wind blowing your napkins and plates away. The bugs - all kinds, esp. the bees that craw into the spout of your soft drink/juice, the dirt (nuf said), your kids- running wild while they should be sitting and eating... AND Most Of All - the Weather. It will always be too hot or too cold. I cannot imagine choosing to eat otside in iffy weather when I can't sit comfortably in my temperature controlled house. (We have no dining room - I eat at my computer desk, sad I know.)
Posted by: bec at November 10, 2006 9:41 PM