Three day weekends are fun, but I often find that too much time alone gets depressing fast. Three day weekends are the perfect time for a little road trip to The Berkshires to see some beloved people.
Shannon and I met in Pittsfield for lunch and some shopping (how fun that we are now in the same state!). After that, I continued on to Great Barrington to see Meg, Aaron, and their kids for a day or so. While this visit was a short one, it, like all the other visits, result in funny and charming moments. Kids do that.
Like when I was explaining the Marine Life Center in FL to everyone over dinner and Sylvia, age 4, responded to the description of turtles in pools with a hilariously coquettish “ooooOOOOooo!”, index finger at her lower lip. We don’t know what caused this reaction but we all enjoyed it thoroughly.
On Sunday we took a long walk together and Vivian, also 4, was my hand holding buddy as she often is. I love it. We move a bit faster than a glacier while we stop to pick up leaves and tiny pieces of fallen pine trees. At one point, she stopped and asked me to zip up her sweatshirt for her. I stood behind her and reached over, completing my task. One might think this would bring me back to my babysitting days. Years and years of zipping up coats in this manner. Instead I flashed back to my own childhood, remembering the sensation of a grown-up leaning over me to do this very same step in the dressing process. It’s weird how random memories like that come at us.
Sunday night we all had dinner at Meg’s parents’ place. Excited about her sleepover there that night with her twin, Vivian took off upon arrival and immediately put on her PJs. It was 3:45 when we got there. Toward the end of the meal, before Aaron went off with Stella, 9, to go skating, and Meg and I left with Miles, 7, for our own mischief, Meg quizzed the twins about the rules. The little meme I made below was a result of this discussion.
As Meg, Miles and I got in the car to head back to Meg’s to watch a movie, I whispered to her that I could use something sweet. She answered “I was thinking SoCOs”. I liked this idea and Miles came unglued when we told him we’d be making an ice cream pit stop. “Well, you know,” I teased him, “We could just have a nice bowl of broccoli. How about that?”
He thought this was a terrible idea, as did I.
Downtown Great Barrington was hopping and there were few parking spaces to come by. When we spotted one, Meg jumped in. As we got out of the car, I praised our good luck, and she responded in a droll tone, “This is the best parking space. Everyone loves it” We may hate our President, but he does make for good catch phrases with which to poke fun at him.
When we got to SoCo, Meg asked Miles “Would you like me to read you the list of specialty flavors or the regular flavors (to choose from)?”
“The special flavors”
“OK, so,” she began, “mango lassie…”
“THAT ONE!”
He’s easy to please.
On the way home we jokingly grilled him about what he should tell his siblings when they come home. I then quizzed him…
BEAN'S BABBLETORIUM 
A visit from auntie honey makes everything right again! Thank you so much for making the effort to come out and visit. It means the World to us! You have this lovely habit of leaving us better-off than how you found us.XOXO
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