I thought we would spend some time at the Pacific Science Center with My Kid. But, that didn’t happen. We enjoyed hanging out in the hotel room as a family until it was time for The Husband to go have lunch with a former work colleague. My Kid and I went swimming in the hotel pool. Then when The Husband met us at the pool so I could go meet an old friend, My Kid decided to get out of the pool. Then she decided she wanted to ride out to the sewing machine repair shop at the far North end city limit with a drive-throu McDonald’s thrown in for fun. The errand took so long that they didn’t get back downtown in time to visit Seattle Center and the Pacific Science Center. Instead they met me at the wine bar where I was with my friend who hadn’t seen Ken since our wedding. I think I stopped by her office with my new baby once. My new baby is going into 4th grade. We had some catching up to do. We talked about the summer she played my older sister in both Gypsy and Fiddler on the Roof and the same actress played our mother in both musicals performed under a circus tent in an asphalt parking lot in Missoula, Montana
When The Husband and My Kid showed up at the wine bar where we were sitting with our happy hour flights of Italian red and truffle flavored popcorn (eyes rolling yeah I know) we talked a little more and then we went up to The Mother-In-Law’s apartment to deliver the repaired surger and for The Husband to program the new phone and hang pictures and some other small chores. We were at her apartment long enough for My Kid to watch the entire movie Mousehunt. At 10 p m we had to leave even though there were still more things on The Mother-In-Law’s to do list because my kid hadn’t had dinner yet. We parked downtown and thought we could find a restaurant downtown but the kitchens were closed so we went back to the hotel and ordered room service. The Husband walked two blocks to buy beverages at Ralph’s grocery on 4th Ave. where we used to buy food so often on the way to rehearsals or shows when we worked at Annex. I remember shopping for snacks at Ralph’s once to eat while hanging out with one of my many housemates from that big white house on Queen Anne Hill. He was an engineer at Bad Animals music studio at the time. I think he moved to Austin, Texas to be a musician. I wonder if he found success.
I had a nice visit with an old friend from the same Montana hometown as the theatre friend we had lunch with the day before. They weren’t friends growing up but they had siblings who were in the same class. Remember when 2 or 3 years difference in age meant you wouldn’t even have cause to meet or talk to a person. Some of the parents of my daughter’s classmates are probably younger than anyone I ever babysat. Thoughts of who were we as children growing up in 1970’s Montana, then making the decisions to become actors and life for all of us beyond that which now includes aging parents.
Today will go quickly, we have to make a promised stop at Magic Mouse Toys in Pioneer Square. We’ll start with breakfast (or brunch or lunch depending on how long it takes us to get up and out of here) in Pike Place Market and check out the stuffed animal store My Kid saw last night when we were looking for a restaurant. She’s looking for a toy lemur but the ones we’ve found so far are apparently the wrong breed. (She’s looking for one that looks like “Mort” from The Penguins of Madagascar. It’s a search that began on Sunday at the Woodland Park Zoo on a day spent with The Husband’s father. (Yes in addition to juggling work and family and friends and sightseeing The Husband must carefully coordinate the time he spends with each of his divorced parents.)
There are more errands to run and things to fix and check off the list of things for The Husband to do for The Mother-In-Law. At least it is Saturday and The Husband won’t be dialing into his office.