I found out this morning that I put the wrong date on Mary’s birthday evites. Oops! But guess what? The date I selected turns out to be October 26, so that means I have an entire week longer than I thought. Phew.
Also, thanks to all for your prayers and good thoughts for Abe. He had an excellent, successful morning, and we are grateful for all the love and cheering on he’s gotten.
Lydia had preschool this morning, and Sarah (one of the other moms) had to walk and take Trax around downtown to complete some errands. Mary and I tagged along and got our daily dose of vitamin D. It was nice to remember we live in a city! Even though our neighborhood is right next to downtown, it feels very separate and suburban-like. I loved our urban morning. While we were walking up Main Street, I even popped into the jeweler’s store that made Swathi’s engagement ring, and they cleaned my ring for free. Right next door was a new boulangerie, and I regretted blowing my weekly budget this past Saturday; I really wanted to try something! Good reason to go back when my budget resets in two days…
Then I picked up Lydia and we all went home where Abe joined us for lunch. After that, we drove to the Art Institute to talk to an admissions officer about their culinary program and tour the campus. I really want to go to that culinary school. My one problem is childcare. I can’t figure that out quite yet, but maybe an answer will present itself soon. In the meantime, the tour was awesome.
After the tour, we drove to Temple Square and I popped into the temple to do initiatories while Abe wandered around the square with the girls. In the bathroom, who should I bump into but Suzanne (Abe’s stepmom!). It was so fun to see her, and we got to chat again on the square after I was done in the temple.
Then Abe, the girls and I went to the downtown Olive Garden to use up a gift card we had. All I can say about that is, almost five hours later, I still have a stomachache.
When we got home, Abe let me practice the piano for two hours while he bathed the girls and got them ready for bed. Between Liszt and the sheer abundance of me-time, I was in heaven–but I did have this thought: did I spend thousands of hours of my childhood practicing…for this? Practicing so one day I could be background music as my husband chased my squealing girls (who were giggling so hard there’s no way they were paying the least bit attention to the music) above me?
And I came to the conclusion: Yes! Absolutely, this is what I practiced for. I practiced so someday I would have a skill set that freed my soul to self-actualize joyfully AND communicated to my children the value of music. Even if that communication takes the basic form of osmosis, it still conveys my hope that my children will become stewards of an ever-less appreciated art form.
After the girls went to bed, I walked into the kitchen expecting a huge mess. To my delight, Abe had cleaned most of it already. I have no idea when he even found time to do that! If it isn’t obvious, I kind of idolize my husband. Sometimes that mindset has its own set of problems, but seriously. Abe is awesome/scarily perfect at times. I am never scarily perfect (hence my problems).
Here’s a picture that Abe took at the north visitor’s center on Temple Square:
That’s kind of how this whole day felt like.