Just Lauren

Yesterday was a whirlwind of fun. EG was waiting on the porch for me as I arrived and I could see her jumping up and down and shouting something. I didn’t quite understand what she was saying but I could see the enthusiasm on her face. It was the happiest, most excited greeting I have gotten from her yet and it felt amazing.

We played outside a good portion of the day as Kevin and Kaitlin worked inside the house. I tried unsuccessfully to keep Ollie and EG away from playing in water but gave up as it was futile. Then, I unsuccessfully tried to stop them from drinking the water they found outside but gave that up as well because I was losing the battle anyway. They’re building up immunities, right?

Ollie is basically walking everywhere now, barely any crawling is happening. Children grow and change so quickly. He is so close to talking, I can feel it, and I keep encouraging him to try. Soon!

Kevin and Kaitlin sent me off with a new tunnel for Pippin that they kindly bought me at a garage sale they went to. I took it home, set it down, and Pippin was immediately in it. I found him sitting in it again this morning. I think this is a keeper.

This morning I met up with my friend, Brittany, at the Parker Farmer’s Market. Holy moly was it hot but I had my water and my hat so I hung in there. We wandered around, trying the samples and while I tried peaches from three different stands, I didn’t love any of them. The peaches have been pretty “bleh” this year, sadly. Perhaps it’s too late in the season now but I feel like even weeks ago they weren’t great. Such a bummer. So I didn’t get any produce but I did get myself some baklava, wheat bread, and pickled green beans. The green beans reminded me of the pickled dilly beans that Elisabeth’s mom gave us a while back and I enjoyed those so I figured this would be a good substitute.

I enjoyed getting to hang with Brittany and we sat on the curb for almost an hour after the market just catching up and chatting even more. At least this divorce has given me the drive to spend time with my friends one on one. That’s a positive.

After I said goodbye to Brittany I decided I wanted to drive by my old house. I do it every few years it seems and I figured why not today since I was only 10 or so minutes away from it. I gave myself the extra challenge of trying to remember how to get there without directions and via a road we didn’t travel very often when I was a kid so I ended up missing a turn and really taking much longer than I should have taken. Oops. I tried to remain calm because I wasn’t really pressed for time but I did feel a bit stressed. I got myself back on track after a quick look at google maps and a couple of u turns later I was at the house. It was pretty drab, to be honest. All of the plants and bushes had been taken out from both the front and back yards. Please, someone explain THAT to me. There was also a ratty basketball hoop in the side yard that made things even more depressing. But, to give the owners credit, the paint looked nice and I don’t think they’ve changed the color since I lived there. I felt a bit disappointed and a bit angry at whoever pulled up plants. So I didn’t stay long.

I did make a stop at the park we played at and even took the time to walk down to the sand dunes that we would bike to on occasion. It’s funny, I remember the sand dunes being a farther bike ride than a 5 minute walk (if that) from the park. Childhood memories really are grander than the real thing. I like that.

I decided since I was there I should climb up one of the dunes so I climbed up what I figured was the easiest, lightest “dune” (by “dune” I really mean a steep hill that’s sandy). I started going up it and realized that my younger self must have been quite brave because my 30 year old self wasn’t loving going uphill in sand that kept shifting under me. The incline was steeper than it looked and I stopped maybe two thirds of the way up (which wasn’t very high to begin with) and thought, “Can I go back down? No, I definitely don’t want to go down this. But I don’t want to go up this either. How did I do this as a kid?!” Then I figured if I could do it as a kid, I could do it as an adult so I used my hands to give me a bit of courage and climbed the rest of the way up. Yay! You can see the “dunes” in the picture above, that was me at the bottom of them before making my way up.

I was able to walk around at the top until I got back to the park and while I did have the brief moment of, “Why didn’t I just go this way to see the dunes instead of climbing up them?” I knocked that thought aside because it wasn’t in the spirit of reliving my childhood. Or being adventurous in general!

I eventually made my way back to my apartment where I watered my plants and many other important tasks, I swear. And now, Kaitlin is on her way to hang out and spend the night! I am so excited and beyond thrilled. She surprised me with the idea yesterday and it made me so happy since I’ve been feeling a bit more sad and alone since Elisabeth is gone for the next few days. This will be a great boost to my mood. Let the fun begin!