Parlez Vous Francais?

It seems that every time I call my mom or my sister lately, they are together.  Off to the grocery store, the yarn store, the fabric store, grabbing coffee, working on projects or just hanging out.   It’s always fun to talk with them together but it also makes me sort of sad.  I feel left out and more than a little lonely.  I’m usually driving to the grocery store by myself.  Or taking the boys out alone for some outing or another.

I meet with a really great group of women with young kids every Thursday morning but only one of them lives nearby (hallelujah for that!) and outside of that group, I don’t have many friends with kids.   So I was at the park with the boys on Tuesday, sitting alone on a blanket while Gryffin & Isaiah ran around when this group of women walked up to the playground.  It felt like the scene in Mean Girls when the “plastics” are introduced as they walk down the hall in slow motion.   Something about those women just made me stop and stare.  Their hair was impeccable (seriously, how do they do that?), they were all wearing the big sunglasses, and just looked so…together.  So with it, you know?   Their clothes were clean and fresh-looking.  One had on skinny jeans and the other two were both wearing these flowy, wrinkle-free linen pants.   They each had a couple of kids in tow and for some reason, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of them, these friends hanging out together at the park for a play date.

At one point I got closer to their group when I was chasing down one of the boys and get this… they were speaking French.  For some reason this just sealed the deal.  I’m sure that they were talking about tantrums and poop and time-outs but everything just sounds so cool in French.   I walked away feeling glum, looking down at my dirty clothes, thankful I couldn’t even see my hair at that moment and wondering why the only language I can speak fluently is pig latin.

It was just one of those days.  And it probably sounds worse than it was.  I took some photos of the boys to help me keep perspective and we headed home on a high note.  But now I’m feeling kind of blue again and I’m really looking forward to my brief trip home to California tomorrow.  I’m flying down alone for 2 days to surprise my niece for her 10th birthday.  I can’t wait to hang out with all three of my nieces, laze about with my mom and sister (and my dad and brother-in-law, of course, though they really aren’t the “laze about” sort!), and hopefully sleep in a little.    One of the pastors at our church is always saying that if you find the grass looking greener somewhere else, then you need to water your own grass and it’s true.  But I water my grass plenty and sometimes it’s just nice to lounge about in someone else’s yard for a change.  Comprenez-vous?

A few shots from the park…

A lot of the parks in Seattle have these mini excavators and last Summer, Gryffin couldn’t manage to work them at all.   This was his first go this year and he was so excited that he could operate it this time.

He kept saying things like “Do you see how hard I’m working, Mama?  I’m working so hard.
It’s a tough job but I’m doin’ it”

Poor Zeebo.  He couldn’t make a go of it at all.

Even with big brother’s “help,” he got so frustrated and finally contented himself
to just sit on my lap and watch brother work it.

G taking a breather so some other kids could take a turn.
It was almost more than he could bear to step away from it.

Love this face!