It's been too long since I've seen the younger family. August travels -- theirs and mine -- cut out the possibility of meeting up before the start of the school year and now here we are in the grip of autumnal weather. Time to head south, to Chicago.
Because the two grandgirls there have weekend activities, I'm not in a rush to get to Chicago. Indeed, I have time to harvest some peaches to take with me, and to pack up corn from Stoneman's. And of course, I take the time to check things outside and to feed the animals....
(the last of the last)
(dahlias and nasturtium)
(path to barn)
I have time for breakfast with Ed...
And I have time to go to the market on my way out. To get Wisconsin flowers for the Chicago guys.
The downside of this rather leisurely start to my trip is that I hit more traffic coming into the city. Ah well. It gives me time to think.
Two young families of mine: so different, with one leading a very Madisonian family life, the other filling its days with the very best of a city life. I think about yesterday's get-together in Madison. It was to be small. It wasn't small. And there were kids. Young, and some not so young -- middle school bound! Five of those kids slept over -- friends, banding together. Snowdrop loves this, as does Sparrow, and Sandpiper goes along because that boy loves chaos. I'm not sure when anyone could clean up after the party, or after the sleepover. But eventually order will be restored.
In Chicago, too, though there are only two kids, the whirligig of weekend activities is in full swing. One girl danced, then had a birthday party, the other girl is off with mom picking up treats at a favorite bakery. Tomorrow she'll play soccer while the family cheers on. In there we will fit in some playtime and meals together.
Two families, so different in the minutia, perhaps style, but at the core, the same, really. A strong foundation of love, kindness, prioritizing concern for others, prioritizing growth and learning. And with ready fixes to those snafus and stumbles that I myself couldn't figure out as a young parent, young wife, newly formed American. I'm not sure my own parents wanted me to do better than they did (other than financially -- they thought I should have married into wealth; I did not), or wanted me to find a different path, to repair their blunders, to find joy in each and every day, but I sure did want that for my kids. And here I am feeling rewarded, because their family lives are in fact better than what I had to offer. I may have repaired my parents' obvious missteps, but I didn't repair all of them, perhaps not even enough of them. One could debate this. But these two daughters of mine, on the other hand, are hugely happy, with solid friendships and a grand homelife with husbands who care deeply about the same stuff and in much the same way they do.
These were my thoughts driving into Chicago.
I do get to my girl's home just in time to see Juniper "walking" with her mom, holding on to bakery treats.
(lunch, with a sneak bite of a cookie)
And eventually, Primrose comes back from her Saturday event, excited to share details of her slime party...
... and to listen in on a story her dad is reading to her sister...
(with a post-nap hair fix for the little girl)
... and now I have before me the whole family of four as they teach me about the virtues of K-Pop music.
We eat dinner at Bar Parisette -- a lovely Chicago bistro that really does bring the culinary delights of that French city right to their doorstep.
I know myself well enough that I don't linger after dinner at their place. I have a hotel room downtown at the Sofitel, because all their neighborhood hotels were already booked solid by the time I looked around for a room for the night. The Sofitel has great last minute deals and it, too, has enough elements of Frenchness to make me feel I've taken a trip to some place that's just a little removed from my faremette everyday.
It's been a lovely day! The girls are getting to be so... not little anymore. A joy to watch, to talk to, and yes, because I can exercise grandparental rights -- to hug whenever the occasion presents itself. It is just a snapshot of their city life, but it is full of color and clarity and all those hues of warmth and love.
Yes, so much love...
