Friday, October 20, 2017

Whose birthday was this for?!

It's always hard to know what to get for a child who seems so very content with her life, and seldom asks for anything. Or might go as far as to try to convince me that she doesn't need more of something, even in cases where I might think her selection (say of clothes or shoes) seems a tad slim. That'd be our eldest for you! So when her 14th birthday rolled around we focused most on the celebrations and then gave her a few coupons. Her scythe is still in the box not yet assembled, but this week was the week for her to cash in the two others. Mom graciously offered to keep the two younger gals so our attention could be fully on Kali. And how delightful that was! It felt like my birthday!!

Yesterday, Kali and I took off for a morning in town together. We were going thrift store shopping for a few things - namely a new swimsuit for her (even she agreed on this one that it was time!), a snowsuit (she has grown inches again this year), orange items for the upcoming celebrations for Nora and a few winter clothes. Then following shopping she got to choose a place to eat out. We had so much fun!

We joked about all the ways it was simplified to just have the two of us to deal with. I didn't have to help anyone in/out of the car. Kali didn't to provide entertainment on the way to/fro town. There were no diaper bags to lug, or children to keep from pulling things off shelves. It was so delightfully simple!

We went first to Gift and Thrift and left 2.5 hours later poorer and with barely enough time to get lunch before needing to be home again. Our trip was a success - if number of items purchased is any gauge of that (note the almost full laundry lines!). We both found clothes, lots of orange things, and a few fun housewares. We probably tried on 150-200 items as we went rack by rack and loaded up our cart. Kali is so fun to shop with. I do not enjoy clothes shopping (a subject for another, and preferably private blog post - oh, I guess that would be my journal!). But there with Kali it was actually enjoyable. Most notably, I love that she tries on clothes with a very practical outlook - are they comfortable, will she wear them, does it suit her taste and the kinds of activities she enjoys, does she need it? It's never about "how does this make me look?" Of course she looks great in all of it - ok, so she did try on a few sweaters that were a little odd. We also found ourselves laughing at some of the items we pulled out to show each other. Practical does not describe all clothing options on those racks!

We walked hand in hand down Main St and enjoyed an Indian buffet before heading home. We were looking for something with soft food options Kali could enjoy as she still nurses a sore mouth. She's doing great though and talking more clearly again! Just like when Jason and I are together without kids, we tend to talk about the kids. Here we were out and about without her little sisters, and they were the subject of good portions of our conversations.

Kali got back to back birthday coupons as today then was the day for a long hike just with me and Jason! She is so patient with Terah and Alida when we go for family walks/hikes together, but she is always eager to see what's around the next corner. So we decided to give her a long hike with just the adults in the family. And we made it to the ridge!

The only bad thing about our outing is that as we neared the ridge I agreed to do a quick time check. I got my phone out, checked the time and dropped it! Jason marveled later at how many drops that phone had already survived, but not this time. It fell on rocks and shattered the screen. It was hard for me to recover from that one - I wanted so badly to just shake it off and continue with our date morning with Kali but I needed a few minutes. And honestly, I haven't fully yet, in part because I don't know yet what I'm going to do about it. But that is also a topic for another post - possibly a public one as I'd welcome others to join me in asking some of the questions that come to me again as I try to figure out what to do. Fix it? Very expensive (I was told by the shop it's better to buy a new one). Buy a new one? Are there any phones one can feel good about buying? Do we ditch our cell phones all together and go back to a landline? What are the health risks of using cell phones? What are the risks to our relationships in using them? Or not using them? Is it fair to ask people to reach me by "old fashioned methods" and for me to be less accessible? Oh the list could go on and on, but again that's for a later time - dinner is ready! For this time anyway it sounds like friends might bail me out with an old phone I can use... So I'll end with a few more hike pictures. Happy 2 months ago birthday Kali - the whole point of this posting!

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