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Friday, August 05, 2005

 

The perfect playdate

Today was the last day of my summer vacation. I couldn't have ended it on a better note.

(Note to Nancy: Please don't read blog today. We missed you, and don't want you to feel any worse about not being able to make it. I can't imagine any other time I would implore you not to read blog, but today, don't do it.)

We had a playdate with some of my best mommy friends today. I thought we might have moved beyond the age where playdates work well, but I was wrong. I remember early playdates with these same moms, when our babies were two, three, four months old and we would meet in the park, laying the babies in a row on a blanket and chatting for leisurely hours. Playdates got more chaotic as the babies turned into toddlers, and conversations were reduced to what you could elicit in three word sentences between rescuing toddlers from trouble. Now the babies are between three and four, and a second (and third!) wave of babies has crested, is cresting, will be cresting very soon, and conversation has returned to playdates as the babies that have become preschoolers entertain themselves and each other. The miracle of this playdate is that almost all the kids are IVF babies, and the miracle of our friendship is that we met on the Internet.

I can't tell you how much I love these women, how important they are in my life. With work and family life and so many other things demanding my attention these days, it would be easy to let these friendships drift into oblivion, into sweet memories of shared experiences. But after a day like today, I promise myself anew that keeping in touch with these smart, funny, interesting women is worth the time and effort to stay in touch.

My boys have been stretching the bounds of my patience this past week, but today they made up for it. I kept looking around, wondering who replaced my troublesome tyrants with such sweet, well-mannered and adorable boys. Tristan asked to hold a two week old baby girl, and I thought my heart would melt. When I got to hold her myself, my heart did melt just a little bit. My kingdom for a girl! (Actually, I've said before that I'm sure one of the little girls there today was my daughter misdelivered by the stork. She reminds me so much of me as a little girl. It's almost unsettling.)

Thank you, my friends, for such a wonderful, memorable day. I couldn't have scripted a more perfect end to a glorious summer vacation. Can we do it again soon? (I'm free tomorrow!)

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