Abundant sunshine, warm temps. No trace of snow in Chicago. Weird February! But, it makes for a very very peasant walk from the hotel back to my daughter's home. Indeed, I take a detour.
A stop at a bakery would be a cool surprise!
What?? Long lines? Oh cities! Open up a good bakery and lines form. I shrug off the idea of baked treats and walk briskly to spend my last hours with the young family.
By the time I get there, the kids are in the thick of their Sunday morning routines.
Primrose gets ready for her morning swim lesson...
Juniper is about to take her morning nap.
Well that's okay. I'll have a few minutes to chat with my daughter over a morning cup of coffee.
We review this, we make plans to do that, and before you know it, Juniper is up again!
Hey, shaggy girl! Oh, now I can see you!
I am not surprised that she goes straight for her Van Gogh book. She has one on Monet that has the same concept: push a point on a page and you get an excerpt of classical music. I was so excited to see an edition of this for Van Gogh, in Rome at the exhibition, that I neglected to take note that the text of the book is actually in Italian. No matter! My daughter has a great Italian accent. It served us well during our travels to that country together way back when.
(Look at those perfect young knees: a total 90 degree squat!)
Once Primrose returns, we all head out to Middle Brow -- a neighborhood brew pub that serves up fantastic brunch foods.
The kids may love their creative pizzas, but I am a sucker for a good shakshouka.
And there it ends.
Time to say goodbye. I'll see them all again in March, but now I need to head back and they need to get on with their routines. And on the drive back I play my music and put on my sunglasses and I think (what I admit, likely most parents think) -- how awesome are my adult daughters! Each different, each exquisite, taking the good from our family life and improving on it all tenfold. With kids of their own -- ones who love so intensely and care so deeply.
Thank you, Chicago bunch. For everything.
And a few hours later I am pulling up into the farmette driveway which, despite the warmth these past days, is still quite iced over. No matter. It'll melt.
I quickly throw down my bag and start in on dinner. The older young family is coming tonight for a Sunday family meal. Our routine has been choppy this past month -- bugs, travel, they all cut into our weekly suppers at the farmhouse. And I have more disruptions coming up, so it's good to keep this dinner in place.
(Sandpiper moving a chair, because minutes before that, Sparrow had moved a chair.)
(As usual, I and her mom coax Snowdrop to give her very long hair a solid brushing. We ask the girl ten times if she wouldn't like to trim off a couple of inches. No, she would not!)
(messin' with Ed doesn't end just because it's Sunday!)
And the weekend comes to a close. And I feel all warm inside, so proud and so totally grateful to have these young families in my everyday.
With so much love...
