Slowing down the pace

Wednesday, 22 February 2006

A friend who's moved to Boston for a year (hubby's schooling) was in town today and a bunch of girls were going to meet downtown at a new ice cream shop ... Ben and Jerry's! They were meeting at 1pm, and because of my crazy pick up schedule on Wednesdays, we couldn't make it. Even though we couldn't make it to see Dani and her kids, we decided to go anyway, so after picking up Emily at preschool and taking a load of recycling to the recycling center, we headed off for a scoop of ice cream to ruin our dinners about 4:30.

$13 later, we each had our scoop of ice cream and sat in the front window of the shop to watch everyone outside walking the streets of downtown. I'm realizing that the kids and I need to do this more frequently than once in a blue moon ... it slowed down the afternoon just enough that I was able to accomplish what I needed to (get the recycling out of the kitchen) and they got to have fun - running around downtown and eating ice cream (two favorite activities)!



Side note: Sitting across from our window, in a landscaping planter, where 2 early 20-somethings dressed in an odd mix of goth and punk styles, with a cardboard sign that read "I'm hungry and it sucks," along with their small kitten on a leash. This made for some interesting conversation around our little table. "Mom what does that sign say? ... Why are they sitting there? ... Can we give them some money?" By the time we were finished eating our ice cream, they had moved on to another spot up the street where there was more sunshine.