Two weeks ago I realized I was running LB ragged on the weekends. One Saturday we had swim lesson, playdate, playdate at an African-American drumming festival, and a birthday party. In practice that involved a lot of "PUT YOUR SHOES ON NOW WE ARE GOING TO MISS OUR BUS WHY AREN'T YOUR SHOES ON!" And that's no way to live. So this week we kept it simple, went out to a live music event in the neighborhood last night, the pool heater is out of commission so no swim lesson, and one playdate. And now we've spent 5 hours hanging out in the house cleaning (me), watching shows (her), playing parcheesi and filling our bird feeder and then retrieving it when it fell off the building and coloring (both). Honestly, I feel a little restless but I think it's been a good chill out day.
I'm not married anymore and I live in a different place, but the biggest change in my life is that I've gone from a person with no real local friends who very rarely did stuff, to a person who often has plans 5 nights a week. Sometimes it's a little too much, but overall I feel energized. I like being around people. I'm nosy enough that I live being part of communities and getting all the news. And LB is shaping up to be a similar shy extrovert. Her absolute favorite thing is to play with friends.
Although I haven't captured all the moments on camera, we've established some rituals. We took the bus to Maine twice this summer. We went camping with friends in September, and last Monday we watched and marched in PRONK here in Providence. We didn't take the ferry to Newport or get to the beach at all. Next year, I need to be brave and try out one of the beach buses-it just seems like such a haul, and who wants to be stuck waiting for the bus when you are ready to leave the beach?
I think I"ve convinced LB to go with me to get PVD Donuts and then do some bird watching tomorrow-sounds delicious!
They need to have this splash pad open more hours. Twice we showed up just as they shut off the water, and once we actually made it to splash.
Chill out evenings are a mythica unicorn around here. You seem to be rocking your first go at it. Wondering, does it seem to be a shift from "old married friends" to fellow single parents?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's a real mix of people: married friends with kids, single parents, single friends without kids. Now I also seem to go to a lot community meetings and random events around town-with or without LB.
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