But, it went great.
First, I took them all to Whole Foods this morning, and got away with it without being asked to leave.
After Katrina's nap, I took them all to my old gym for a weights class, and they all did fine in the gym daycare. There I saw my longtime acquaintance, the marathon runner with her four young children -- she handles all four all day, and that's with a husband who works at home and travels for work a lot. So who am I to complain?
Back at home, I got Julian down for a nap, then Katrina, then came downstairs to find Gabriel asleep on the couch, pillow and blanket and all. So I actually had about half an hour when everyone was asleep.
I took that time to sort through photo albums, as part of my closet-reorganization project. Some needed labelling; others got put in a box for future disassembly. Most have something to do with motorcycle travel and camping.
It was oddly surreal looking through those photos and being in my old life, with my new life (in the form of a just-woke-up rosy, tousled 5-year-old) looking over my shoulder and asking me questions like where the ground stops.
Who am I? Am I the beaten-down, frumpy, scatterbrained, hair-trigger, sullen, slog-through-life suburban housewife mom? Or the brave leather-clad dirt-covered 2-wheeled adventurer tackling a rocky road?
Then....
...and now:
Aw, but look at that adorable baby.
And tonight, Adorable Baby's pesky brothers are on a sleepover, so Dad and I got to sit together and actually talk and play with a crackly, giggly, happy, smiley, charming baby.
It occurs to me that if I were still childless and riding and camping all the time, I might wonder by now what I was missing out on. And as much as I miss my old self, I'm glad I know. And that I'm not missing out on it.
6/22/07
(Photos: Upper: Memorial Day weekend 1999, on a random trail in the Sierras somewhere around Quincy. Lower: 2004 Las Madres picnic, June 9 2007.)
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