The years pass so quickly…
but the days are interminable.
That’s not my quote; it came from Whitney Forstner, another mom of twins, who was sharing my general feeling of wonder at how I am so sad each time I fold up and put away a little shirt that the girls have grown out of…sad when I look at their baby pics, fat grinning little ones…sad when I think how big they are and how fast it’s going…yet each morning, I wake up thinking “How am I going to get through THIS day!” and as I swig wine, end o’ day, I think PHEW! Another one down. Aren’t these the days I’m supposed to be cherishing?? Before they grow out of grinning fat babies into skulking teenagers (when they are sent to Swiss boarding schools?)
I lived the dream and enjoyed the moment in some non-stop girl time over these last couple weeks. Upon being freed from the school calendar…of course, none of my girls are IN school, but whatever, we freed up after the 2 1/2 hour dance recital which is a whole ‘nother post…the kids set off for Wilmington and I set off for a whacky trip to Wilmington via California (note: CA is not on the way). Girls visited with the grandparents and then I got to drive them home, stopping to visit various friends. As a whole they were quite pleasant and the amount of Ralph listening was fairly confined (note: Ralph is MUCH better in concert than on the 6th hour of a road trip).
So in a sweet euphoria over this success we set off for Boston. I brought along my babysitter, which made me feel super-duper decadent the entire time. I got some work done, the girls hit their second children’s museum in two weeks–Boston’s great, but Wilmington’s children museum is bar none the best I’ve ever seen–and the babysitter had a hotel room while the girls and I bunked in together. This was a little NOT sweet as my bed-mate, one of the twins, is a kicker who likes to sleep (I found out) in the middle of the bed so I, an adult, clung to the side of the bed as she enjoyed full double bed splendor. The annoyance was alleviated by looking at the other two unintentionally cuddled up in their own bed…the innocence of sleeping kids…
We were in Boston for 2 1/2 days and they almost all refused to leave. Princess One just kept yelling “I want to live at the Westin!”. So spoiled. Our hotel points mean that the majority of her hotel visits are at Westins and at this point that’s the majority of her travel–oh and business travel with me, to Ritz and JW Marriott–and now SHE EXPECTS NOTHING LESS. Not for nothing I camped either in tents or the back of our Aries K Car station wagon till, oh, I don’t know, my honeymoon–but this one calls room service for Perrier at age 4. It’s a rough world ahead.
But everyone got their free lotion, pulled out their shower caps, donned said shower caps, and we all walked out of the Westin for our drive home which was NOT that sweet. The twins were tolerable, but oldest princess fussed and yelled ALL the way home except for a brief nap. I had to provide running entertainment and I couldn’t listen to my book on tape (because of swears in it) and had to spend a full 40 minutes involved in a game called “Which city is it??” wherein I thought of stuff that was either DC or Boston and she had to say which — educational except every one she got wrong (admittedly very few as she is a prodigy, by all accounts) she made me re-do. In some cases multiple times. Because sometimes, against her own prodigy nature, she would give the same wrong answer 3-4 times and then holler.
These are the days to remember, Billy Joel sang, and even with rough car trips and bathroom visits colored by me yelling “DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING” as they touched each and every thing, I am glad I had these little trips. It was such a fun adventure to settle in with my 3 little ones in a hotel and find a tv show, eat a late-night (8:30) snack, and feel crazy. People kept asking me “How can you do it with three little ones on your own?” and I thought “My alternative is staring at the walls in my house!!” So it’s nuts but hopefully “These are the days…they’ll hold on to”…and remember the good trips as they are, in the future, slumming at the Four Seasons or something …