I decided to take the kids for a little walk today. After the gym this morning, I grabbed them out of daycare and drove to the other side of the campus. Our gym is located in the back of a huge campus that used to house mental patients. All the creepy dilapidated buildings are still there, just empty. It’s kind of cool and very weird all at the same time. Anyway, since I was in a super funk for no good reason yesterday, I decided I wasn’t going to let that happen today! I thought some bonding time with the kids would do the trick.
We found our way to a small parking lot filled with about 8 cars. We unloaded and started walking. I had no idea where this led to but we would soon find out. My daughter is already whining about what we are doing.
“Ugh, mom, are we just.....walking?! I’m tired.”
Yes, walking, what a concept. I had to pretend we were explorers searching for “something”. My daughters first choice for the something was an ice cream store. I had to remind her of what kinds of things we might find in the woods and she remembered that bugs could be found outside. She’s not a big bug fan. After a few kicks and screams, we were back to our exploration in search of the unknown.
Our first encounter was with a 65-70 year old man. I saw him slowly trot from the woods behind him and I got nervous. We hadn’t seen any other passer Byers, so I immediately put my keys between my fingers, my make shift brass knuckles, and prepared for whatever this old timer was going to dish out. As he approached, my 2 year old son ran to him to say hello. He was graciously given a good morning and 2 high fives. Good thing I was ready, he could have turned any minute. Obviously, I didn’t grow up in the best town. Where we live now is quite a change for me. People wave at you and say hello in the grocery stores. They don’t give you the finger for looking in their direction or shove you out of their way to get down a narrow grocery isle. It’s only been a year and a half. I’m sure it will take some time.
We walked about a mile or so on a black concrete road leading through “the forest” as my daughter put it. It was lovely! My daughter finally stopped whining and my son had to yell HI at people hundreds of yards away from us. He didn’t stop saying hello until they finally said it back and passed by us. People call him the mayor with good reason. Once we turned around to travel back to the car, I heard a loud rumbling. It could’ve been the back hoe taking down one of the crumbling buildings. We walked on. A loud crash and more rumbling. “what’s that loud noise mommy?” “Thats thunder baby.”
I reminded them that if the sky opens up and throws its rain on us, it’s just water. You always want to play in the rain, so here’s your chance. I am now walk/running with my son on my back while making sure my daughter could still keep up. I don’t particularly enjoy wearing soaking wet clothes. We made it to the car and as soon as I loaded the kids and shut the doors, down it came. Thanks for looking out universe. It would have made for a funnier story though.
That's all my kids will allow me to write for now. I’ll try to post a little something later.
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