Saturday, March 03, 2007

Geoff just called. He was on his way to work, but he’s going to circle his way back to the house and drop-off some bagels for breakfast. He wants me to meet him in the driveway for the delivery. Love is grand! I should be able to hear the grinding, grunting rumble of his ride… and here comes the Big Blue Whale now. (One way to afford a year of private school is to forego the purchase of a newer car. We also rationalize about the effect on the environment the Big Blue Whale has: Someone is going to drive it.) And now Geoff is on his way to the office, and we are coughing on the cream cheese and toasting our bagels. Thank you bagel man! We love you.

Everyone is sick, so we can play together and not worry about cross-contamination. You should worry about contamination, so if you are healthy do not come over to our domestic Petri dish. We have had fantastic dinner plans with James and Deanne and Holly and Rich. I really hate to pass on an evening of good company and apple walnut salad, but this is one of those responsible adult moments when we must choose not to inflict our loved ones with disease and misery. Sigh. We probably should not expect to see Jacob, Adam and Anne on Sunday.

Now that I have proudly displayed our kind and generous attitude towards the people we know and love, allow me to show you what we do for complete strangers… yes, that’s right, we share! And anyone that thinks we should have stayed home and rested is silly. Do you honestly believe children rest when they are sick? No, they do not. They are either sent to school; so they can keep up with their peers, so they can go on to apply to expensive universities. Or they stay home and wrestle, run, jump, build tents and declare their profound boredom every 42 minutes. So if you aren’t going to nap and sip hot soup from the comfort of your four-poster bed, then you should get your butts to Disneyland.

We were more than half way to Orange County before Alex noticed we missed the turn-off for their school. William was in on our plan to play hooky from school. I think it was therapeutic for us to spend time together in the fresh air and sunlight. We walked a lot and laughed a lot. We drank plenty of water.

And most importantly, we showed our love for the birthday boy by playing with wild abandon.

We frequently asked William, “Where to next?” He led us to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ride, and he talked us in to riding the Matterhorn, twice.

We stopped to watch the parade, which

Maria loved.


We took aim at tombstones and cactus in Frontierland, honing our hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.

I cannot say we are coughing any less today, or that we might be healthier if only Geoff had been at work, the kids in school and I had folded socks and dish towels. We had fun. William wore his new T-shirt: “It’s All Fun and Games,
Until the Flying Monkeys Attack!”
Maria took a long nap, bundled and content in her stroller.


And we saw the elusive Disney Cats. I think they must control the mouse population. Ironic, yes?


Oh, and one more thing you may hear us allude to in casual conversation, at cocktail parties, at the spa… Geoff saw Helen Mirren. I saw her too, and Willliam and Alex saw her from behind, walking away like a Queen. But it was Geoff that made eye contact with her. She returned his smile. Weren’t we too kind? We didn’t chase her down for autographs and pictures and we didn’t give her our colds. But now we can say things like, “Yes, well, when we were celebrating our first child’s 16th birthday and Helen Mirren came by, we were so pleased.”

2 comments:

Tarie said...

It's so great that William's birthday celebration was so much fun. I'm happy for your family. =D And Maria is such a gorgeous little angel!

Natalie said...

Tarie you are always so sweet. We did have a fun day. These children make it so easy to have a good time. Of course it would be hard not to have fun at Disneyland... but we have fun riding in the car, sitting around talking about pirates vs. ninjas... it doesn't take much ;-)