On life, it’s meaning, the people we choose to walk alongside on this wild and crazy ride we call life.
My family lost someone very special this past weekend. Though not unexpected, the loss feels just as difficult as if it were sudden. I cannot fully describe my own feelings because I do not believe that I’ve really processed it all.
At times like this, when my heart feels emptier, the sage advice, to “not postpone joy”, feel as poignant as it does today.
Our weekend was otherwise calm, peaceful, relaxing, and filled with a few hours of peace and quiet while the kids enjoyed an entire day with their Baba and Deda. We made the most of Sunday-Funday with a dance class, a movie afternoon, and homemade Pizza Margherita Sophia and Evan made together.
It doesn’t happen every weekend but often enough that we have the luxury of sharing the girls with the grandparents for the whole day (breakfast-late afternoon). Until this weekend, the honor belonged to my parents but this Saturday Evan’s parents rolled out the craft carpet and welcomed Sophia and Eliza into their home.
What happens at Grammie and Pop’s house, stays at Grammie and Pop’s house. Whatever they did, Eliza and Sophia came home overjoyed. Meanwhile, while the kitties were away, the mice (Evan and I) played.
There were breakfast tacos with pico de gallo and guacamole, and an afternoon movie. It wasn’t all relaxation though—we cooked up a storm to get a head start on the workweek. There was chili, bahn mi turkey burgers, an egg salad, and a banana bread to round out the savories. Whew! I’m tired just remembering all the cooking not to mention the work itself. All in all, the weekend went by too quickly. We are grateful to have gotten an opportunity to enjoy a meal in peace, watch a movie in the afternoon, and just … be.
Resetting for the new year happened in the most pleasant way: a belated birthday celebration for Evan in the Big Apple.
We’ve long come to the conclusion that, for the man who has everything, experiences are more pleasurable than tangible items.
New York offers so much to do, and our time there is always limited. We chose to forego seeing a play and instead focused this trip on art. Having been to the Met, the MOMA, and the Guggenhem, we focused on two smaller galleries each of which had a particular art focus.
First, we visited the Frick Collection which featured Andrea del Sarto‘s charcoal sketches as a special exhibition. The sketches were awe-inspiring and I found it difficult to comprehend how a few simple strokes can, together, showcase such movement and emotion. The permanent collection was even more impressive in its breadth: works by El Grego, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Monet were incredible. I am partial to El Greco, and having seen many of his works in Toledo—the city he called his home—I was once again reminded about his mastery with color, shading, and the marriage of Byzantine traditions into western-style works. This painting in particular caught my eye. His shading was so exquisite that one cannot help but want to reach out and touch the robes of the subjects.
We switched things up on Sunday with a visit to the Neue Gallerie which mainly focuses on post-impressionist art from Germany and Austria from the time of the Weimar Republic until and into the Third Reich. I wanted to see Klimpt’s “The Woman in Gold” and as magnificent as it was, it didn’t overshadow other fascinating pieces including fashions, jewelry, and photography from the period.
We interspersed our time at the galleries with tours of the Essex and Chelsea markets and a cider tasting. There may have also been a visit to a New York institution, a busy establishment for libations, and an beautiful dinner.
New York is big, bold, and beautiful. It’s crowded, enigmatic, diverse, and ever changing. These are the very reasons we keep coming back, to get recharged, to see how it’s changed, and understand a little more about ourselves through our experiences there.
There were no plans on our calendar for the break between Christmas and New Year’s. We had been content to have a staycation but were lured out with the promise of chocolate and quality time with Evan’s parents at Hershey.
The trip, which lasted just a few days, really was spontaneous and we rushed to make sure everyone was packed and ready to go. I am still shocked, though no longer really surprised, about how much stuff little kids require when traveling.
The girls went to Chocolate World and learned all about how chocolate is made. Sophia participated in cookie decorating and played reindeer games while Eliza napped. Sophia had the best time! Evan and I enjoyed seeing his parents and watching them enjoy their granddaughters. We finished the trip up with s’mores on the terrace in the dark warmed by a roaring pit fire. Just lovely!
There are traditions that we grew up with and then there are new traditions we make for our own kids. For example, Evan and I took Sophia to the ballet to see the Nutcracker for the first time today. The ballet at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia is a lovely affair; The venue is steeped in tradition and the experience begins well before the curtain drops just as you enter the doors. For us, the ballet is an indulgence, a real treat. I wanted to experience Sophia’s first time at a performance venue, to really take it all in, and understand her perception of everything and I wasn’t disappointed. Sophia’s eyes lit up just as soon as she entered the lobby and saw all the people, the lights, and found her seats.
The Nutcracker is such a beautiful story and I love all of the solos in it. I wanted to entice Sophia, to show her, that if she works really hard in her class, she can aspire to be a ballerina. In turn, Sophia took it all in, listened to the music, clapped when the audience clapped and paid attention through most of the two-hour performance. I think that, given her age, the excursion was a great success. Moreover, Sophia said she’d like to do this again next year, though we should wait before taking Eliza. Sounds like Evan and I weren’t the only one who enjoyed having time just with Sophia for a few hours.
Not really cold, no, but colder than it was a week ago when we were all courted by mother nature and her 69+* temperatures. In any event, we here were not impressed by the sudden drop in temperatures and decided to stay in for the weekend. One of the girls was under the weather, too.
Preceding the rest of the weekend, we had a busy enough Friday where my in-laws babysat for us so that we could go to a holiday party. In addition to letting us have a few hours to interact with other adults, they brought over delicious cookies and bars (homemade, of course). I’ll have to try and get my mother in-law’s recipe for the date-nut bars. They were unbelievably good… I’ve been like a bee to honey near them.
Occupying two kids under 5 in a 1200 sq. ft. space can get a little overwhelming but desperation served well to inspire us; Sophia is a fan of arts and crafts and Eliza loves to construct things. We paired the two together and asked Sophia to arrange flowers using this set and draw the results. Wanting to keep up with her sister, Eliza jumped in and drew as best she could as well. So proud of their artwork they were that we affixed their prized possessions to our fridge for Baba and Deda to admire when they stopped in to visit with us and stayed for Sunday dinner.
Evan cooked beef meatballs and mashed potatoes using half the butter called for in this recipe and the results were stupendous. Thinking we ought to up the green quotient, we paired everything with trees or steamed broccoli. Saving the best for last, we shared the chocolate brownie cookies Sophia and Evan made together earlier today. It was that sort of a weekend where we stayed in, spent time as a family, and enjoyed good food and time with grandparents.
By-the-bye, that is the mantra for the next few weeks for us—family time. And as for the inspiration for the old expression? Charlotte Bronte whose works I have been consumed by while cheating on my other love, Outlander. So much to read, so little time.
