city kids

After a long, happy nature-soaked weekend like the one we had up in Michigan over the 4th, I sometimes wonder if we should just do a complete life switcheroo and buy a little house in a tiny town, with a little creek in the back or a patch of beach nearby and no sidewalks and just become a country family.

And so it seems that the gods of urban dwelling were listening to my fanciful and somewhat naive (although I did spend much of my upbringing in small rural communities) thoughts and wanted to remind me of all the treasures that can be found right here in the Big City. Or the Second City.

Saturday we spent most of the day on the bikes and then ended the day at the beach. I think Saturday needs to become "Supper on the Beach Day" from now until September.

Sunday we were invited to a movie to help raise funds and awareness for a food pantry garden my friend Sarah is masterminding. It was still too sunny at 6 pm to watch the movie outside, so we moved it into the church gym, sat on the floor and munched on free popcorn while watching Wall-E.  Everybody loved it so much that there is now talk of doing this once a month. We will certainly be back for more if it happens again. (I have figured out that I like the down-home community action that often happens in smaller churches. I like the chili suppers and the White Elephants and the bake sales. Too bad I have no desire to go to church on Sunday.)

Monday morning we were in another church, this time in the basement. Ben and I have been taking a Musikgarten music and movement class for the past few weeks. Ben loves the instruments and when we get to "dance" with scarves and he also like banging the big drum that Miss Amy brings out. I am not so good at the signing the kids up for structured activities and classes (I doubt that my children will ever be "over-programmed") but I am so thrilled that Ben and I are doing it. It's totally our special thing. We ride the bike over, go down the stairs, see our class pals, make music and march around in circles and then come up, go right across the street and play in the park until we get hungry. Not a bad way to spend a Monday morning.

And then last night, we kept the music appreciation going until the sun went down. We headed to Millennium Park for a special tribute to Shel Silverstein, aptly called a "Shelebration."

Poems were read, songs were sung and we ended the performance sort of dancing and romping and tossing a ball around while the Unicorn Song was belted out. We stayed out much later than maybe we ought to have. But I think it was worth it. I am pretty sure my kids thought it was worth it.

So I think we're going to hold off on fleeing to the country. There's just too many fabulous and magical things to do right here.

Comments

[bloomingheather]

Thanks for this post, Bonnie! I needed to hear this.

Best,
Heather

[bonnie]

Yes, the lure of Maine and Oregon and Michigan and all those beautiful locales are real. But we need to go with what we've got and Heather, we have more than we can keep up with in this fabulous city. (It's not perfect but it is rich.)

bonnie