Adventures On the Road

I aged 10 years last weekend.

Not because of stress, or because suddenly I had 10 years more experience or because I was 10 years wiser.  But because I went to my very first “kid’s birthday party” – a 2 year old birthday party in fact.  With families and kids running around the house, goodie bags and balloon bouquets, suddenly I was no longer in my twenties.

In fact, I did my very best to avoid the feeling that I was entering into a different life stage – I even changed out of my bootleg jeans into some skinny jeans.  Because, you can’t be a “soccer mom” in skinny jeans right?

Kids party or not, it was a party, and with our social calendar looking mighty sparse, we took the opportunity to bring our best.  Which included BBQ’ing a brisket the day before the party, marinating 14 chicken breasts, making homemade chocolate chip cookies and showing up 3 hours before the party started, in which time I was trapped in the backseat of the car with 15 helium balloons plus a life size “Diego”  balloon (from Dora the Explorer).

It was a funny experience going to a kid’s birthday party, complete with 7 rowdy kids all under the age of 7.  All of a sudden it brought back childhood memories of homemade cakes shaped like cats with licorice whiskers, and the importance of a good goodie bag to send home with all your friends.   Present time was a new experience though.  All the kids crowded around and it was almost like it was their own birthday, they were pretty much unwrapping the presents themselves.  What happened to sitting in a circle?

As gifts were opened and out came a kid-size shopping cart, a ‘Diego’ doll, and other very fun, shiny toys, suddenly that feeling of peer pressure and judgement washed over us.  We looked at each other and said, “I think we might have bombed in the gift arena”.  It’s serious stuff.  The judgement of the room!  Our little barn, complete with plush barnyard animals, may not be up to snuff.

But I am happy to report that the barn was a success and the birthday girl carried around the little horse and cat for at least the time it took to open 3 more presents.  And then the Baby Alive was unwrapped.  And really, who can compete with the Baby Alive when she drinks water and eats peas and carrots and actually pees and poops in her diaper.  Actually, all the kids were fascinated by her – the birthday girl because she had her own little baby to feed and burp and the boys because they wanted to see the baby pee in her diaper.

And….that pretty much sums up the difference between boys and girls.

You know the signs.  You look in your calendar and there’s a lot of blank spots.  You start planning your week to realize that it’s wide open.  And you try to think of something that’s happened in the last few weeks, to come up empty handed and to realize that thing’s are just pretty boring right now.

So I have no grand stories of feeding baby lion cubs, or of watching orca whales in the wild, or of crazy celebrity sightings. But I do have funny little regular life stories – the little things that become big things when there aren’t any BIG things to talk about.

I hit a bird.

Or maybe, a bird hit me.

All I know is that I was driving, in traffic, it was 4pm on a random Wednesday and I noticed a flock of birds flying in front of me.  And then WHAM.  One didn’t fly high enough and it clipped the top of my windshield.  This is a first for me, and all I could think of was that little bird, struggling against the wind, thinking ‘I just need to get a little higher…damn this tail wind!’.  It may have left a little mark on the car.

There was a kitten/cat adoption day at the mall on the weekend.  I couldn’t help but go around to every cat, sticking my fingers inside the cage to stroke some fur, tickle some paws or scratch behind their ears.  And then I did a second lap of the kittens.  And then, as only the true “cat people” understand, I couldn’t help but start a third lap before I was reigned in and dragged away.  They’re just so cute!

And then there was the day that we discovered a new grocery store.  And to be honest, it was a pretty big deal.  It’s like a whole new world opens up when you have a new place to shop, to browse the aisles, and check out the exotic cheeses and the huge selection of olive oil.  Suddenly I felt like I needed everything…like miniature decorative gourds.  It’s kind of like when you first discover Ikea and you come  home with decorative pillows, a lucky bamboo plant and a randomly shaped lamp that doesn’t give off much light.   But, I have to admit, out of this new grocery store came some pretty good meals.

Marinated chicken breasts on the BBQ with mushroom couscous and a vegetable medley

One last thing….It’s POMEGRANATE SEASON!