So...I haven't been able to blog for a few days, and I really missed writing everything down, so to speak. I have been keeping a journal since I was in 5th grade, so it's almost like a disease at this point, having to purge all my thoughts through writing.
Anyway, we left Charlottesville with only two hours to go to Bethesda, and all day to do it. Serendipity stepped in, and an old friend of mine contacted me to say that she was only an hour away and would love for us to stop by. This is a friend, Natalie, whom I was close to when we were both in violin making school. I would characterize myself as being very good at keeping in touch, but for whatever reason, Natalie and I lost touch completely. Like, I didn't even have her address for Christmas cards, and if you're someone who has had the misfortune of giving me your address during the past 25 years, you know how hard it is to get off that list. The kids and I took a little detour to Stafford, Virginia, to see Natalie and her two children, Linus and Enid, who are 3 and 1. Her husband was at work. It was good for my heart to connect with Natalie again, and for both of us to be settled into our chosen lives. We were friends at a time when both of us were miles away from knowing where we were going, but Natalie always knew who she was, for sure. She and the kids had snacks with us and sent us on our way with two big bags of chocolate chip cookies, my favorite thing in the whole world.
At this point, we were about an hour from the beltway, and ahead of schedule. We just drove to Bethesda where I hung out at the park with a very international crowd of nannies and their kids. Because the park had a nice, shady splash pad, we arrived at Krissy and Sin's house pretty much dripping wet. Welcome to a crazy weekend, Kwoun family!
Krissy was ready for us, though. She had plans for dinner (we ordered in pizza) and contingency plans for if the chaos was too much. She had prepped Sin, who is from a small, dignified Korean-American family, for Mass Mormon Mayhem. She said, "Something will get broken. Something will get spilled. Someone will cry. And I'm OK with that, so you need to wrap your head around it." Ha ha. I kept joking with them, saying, "Look! There's a scuff on the wall. That was already here! This tile was already chipped! We haven't broken anything yet!" When Sin jumped right into karaoke with the kids, he didn't look like the kind of guy who would worry too much about mass mayhem. At one point, Krissy said to him, "OK, are you the only one singing? Because I can't hear myself think." Both of them are great fun and really good parents to three of the most darling, sweet, polite kids. Lucy is 8 and Mitchell and Miles are 6, and we just ate up their sweet personalities and the funny things they said. The first night, when Krissy was at the airport picking up Golda and Ruby, Mitchell and Miles must have thought I was a pushover because they went full steam ahead on bedtime snack acquisition. When Mitchell wanted more chocolate syrup in his milk, I said, "That' would be so chocolatey, it would be illegal." Miles said dreamily, "Yeah. Not even robbers would be able to drink it."
So, back to the airport. Krissy offered to pick up the girls because she is intimately familiar with the airport and the traffic to get there. We had heard from our Spanish friends that they had gotten on their flight in Lisbon, but we didn't hear from them when they had a layover in Boston, so we were anxious to make sure they made the flight. Sin reassured me that there are about 20 flights a day from Boston to D.C., so NBD if they missed their connection. Still, I didn't want Krissy to have to wait at the airport, either. She took Ari and Free with her because they were so excited to see their sisters, they couldn't wait at home.
The picture Krissy texted me from the airport.
Finally, Krissy found them and brought them to me! I am sad that their European adventures are over, but I am grateful they are back safely, and it was so fun to see them! I wanted to hear every detail of their trip, but I tried to wait until Scott got here to hear it all, too.
At the end of our first day in DC, I had two daughters back, and a bunch of cousins to play with. Not bad, and so good!
Anyway, we left Charlottesville with only two hours to go to Bethesda, and all day to do it. Serendipity stepped in, and an old friend of mine contacted me to say that she was only an hour away and would love for us to stop by. This is a friend, Natalie, whom I was close to when we were both in violin making school. I would characterize myself as being very good at keeping in touch, but for whatever reason, Natalie and I lost touch completely. Like, I didn't even have her address for Christmas cards, and if you're someone who has had the misfortune of giving me your address during the past 25 years, you know how hard it is to get off that list. The kids and I took a little detour to Stafford, Virginia, to see Natalie and her two children, Linus and Enid, who are 3 and 1. Her husband was at work. It was good for my heart to connect with Natalie again, and for both of us to be settled into our chosen lives. We were friends at a time when both of us were miles away from knowing where we were going, but Natalie always knew who she was, for sure. She and the kids had snacks with us and sent us on our way with two big bags of chocolate chip cookies, my favorite thing in the whole world.
At this point, we were about an hour from the beltway, and ahead of schedule. We just drove to Bethesda where I hung out at the park with a very international crowd of nannies and their kids. Because the park had a nice, shady splash pad, we arrived at Krissy and Sin's house pretty much dripping wet. Welcome to a crazy weekend, Kwoun family!
Krissy was ready for us, though. She had plans for dinner (we ordered in pizza) and contingency plans for if the chaos was too much. She had prepped Sin, who is from a small, dignified Korean-American family, for Mass Mormon Mayhem. She said, "Something will get broken. Something will get spilled. Someone will cry. And I'm OK with that, so you need to wrap your head around it." Ha ha. I kept joking with them, saying, "Look! There's a scuff on the wall. That was already here! This tile was already chipped! We haven't broken anything yet!" When Sin jumped right into karaoke with the kids, he didn't look like the kind of guy who would worry too much about mass mayhem. At one point, Krissy said to him, "OK, are you the only one singing? Because I can't hear myself think." Both of them are great fun and really good parents to three of the most darling, sweet, polite kids. Lucy is 8 and Mitchell and Miles are 6, and we just ate up their sweet personalities and the funny things they said. The first night, when Krissy was at the airport picking up Golda and Ruby, Mitchell and Miles must have thought I was a pushover because they went full steam ahead on bedtime snack acquisition. When Mitchell wanted more chocolate syrup in his milk, I said, "That' would be so chocolatey, it would be illegal." Miles said dreamily, "Yeah. Not even robbers would be able to drink it."
So, back to the airport. Krissy offered to pick up the girls because she is intimately familiar with the airport and the traffic to get there. We had heard from our Spanish friends that they had gotten on their flight in Lisbon, but we didn't hear from them when they had a layover in Boston, so we were anxious to make sure they made the flight. Sin reassured me that there are about 20 flights a day from Boston to D.C., so NBD if they missed their connection. Still, I didn't want Krissy to have to wait at the airport, either. She took Ari and Free with her because they were so excited to see their sisters, they couldn't wait at home.
Finally, Krissy found them and brought them to me! I am sad that their European adventures are over, but I am grateful they are back safely, and it was so fun to see them! I wanted to hear every detail of their trip, but I tried to wait until Scott got here to hear it all, too.
At the end of our first day in DC, I had two daughters back, and a bunch of cousins to play with. Not bad, and so good!
1 comment:
Can't wait for pictures. coco
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