- Brooklyn Children's Museum. Really, really geared towards kids. Everything is touchable, and everything worked. MM had a really great time and took lots of pictures. Which brings us to my next recommendation...
- VTech Kidizoom Digital Camera. MM's favorite gift this year. He worked out how to use it as a plain vanilla camera and then, completely on his own, figured out all its fun photo effects features. Let me tell you, I look totally gorgeous with a pig's nose and bulgy eyes.
- Dim Sum with kids. MM ate his weight in shrimp dumplings.
- Amtrak. I know, I know, I know....I've recommended them before, but what's not to like about a mode of transportation where you can sit comfortably, use your computer (or watch your own movies), get up, walk around, have a pee or a bite to eat, and still get to NYC from DC in 3 hours? Without having to wait in line to take off your shoes?
- Watching one's grandma turn 90, and have a 94-year-old at the party say, "I wish I'd had her kind of energy when I was her age."
Through My Glasses, Dorkily
13 years ago
1 comment:
MysteryMommy's aunt was up there on our trip to the see "the extended family" (a phrase that, secretly, those of us who married into it all detest, since we all, you know, kind of had families already). She's not exactly known for being Miss Congeniality. But, neither am I.
However...
Her daughter (MysMom's cousin) has been coping with cancer for some years now. (People say "battling," about cancer, but my father was a highly decorated military man who died of cancer; if battling cancer were actually possible, he'd be alive today, I can promise you.) For the fourth time, she's in the hospital, receiving some kind of soul-crushing, mind-boggling, body-rending treatment for it. They never expect her to survive, but she keeps coming back.
Which is fine, in particular, by her now ten-year-old daughter. Aunt Congenial was watching over her grand-daughter on this trip, and I just want to take this time and place to say this: she's doing a great job. The girl must know that Mommy is sick (again!), and I won't claim she doesn't care; I'm sure she does. But, she was part of the fun and was laughing and singing with the rest of us. Auntie (her grand-mum) was smiling and joining in herself. Still... you could see in her eyes--as any parent would have--that it all hurt a bit more than a little. Her daughter is probably going to predecease her, and that's something no parent should ever have to see. Her grand-daughter will have to deal with it (and maybe before she's a teen!), which is something no young child should ever have to do. And grand-mum will have to take it all on her own shoulders. (Yes, grand-daughter has a dad, but he is, by all accounts, useless on this problem.)
I've not really gotten along with grand-mum. Didn't have to, so I didn't bother. Still... She's being a trouper and that's worth praise. Her grand-daughter is a joy to see and to be around. That's got a lot to do with MysMom's auntie. She deserves a bit of praise for it. (Yes, yes, I did say something nice to grand-mum. This clue isn't for her; it's for you, in case you ever have someone near you who could use a bit of the same sort of love. Go forth, okay?)
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