Back from the Dead

Let me begin by stating that my lack of posts has been due to all things spooky, sickly and croupy. My son cast a spell over my daughter last week giving her a demon of a cold. I spent several days in and out of Kaiser, including a midnight run to ER for breathing treatments. Then my two day girls trip to San Diego by train took a detour in the form of Dominic coming with me so that Sophie could get full papa treatment. Part of me was very irritated at this turn of events: whose toilet do I have to clean to get a vacation? But the mommy side of me was thrilled to see Dominic's excitement as he boarded the "Thomas Train" like a little man, lugging his train suitcase behind him. In fact, between his suitcase, the diaper bag and the car seat, guess who didn't have her own suitcase? I spent two full days in the same pair of black capris and "I Love Geek" teeshirt. But what the hell. It was fun anyway. As it happens, my girlfriend, Al, from college lives in a fantastic three bedroom town home on the seventeeth floor of a downtown San Diego highrise. It's right across from the train station, so the moment we arrived, I felt like I was in a Richard Scary book - "A Day in the City!" We saw red metro links whizzing by. There were taxis. There was scaffolding over newly erected buildings. There was dump trucks whirring and cruise ships docking. There were helicopters flying and airplanes landing. And, best of all, and closest to my fantasy, there was a door man of sorts in the lobby of Al's building directing us toward the elevator. Once we were inside Al's place, resplete with wood floors, granite counter tops and stainless steel fixtures, I couldn't help but sigh with delight at her expansive ocean view. After putting Nick to bed (who spent all night playing with Al's daughter's toys, as well as their friends' daughter who came over) she and I sat on her cozy white bed, shoulder to shoulder like the old days, and chatted about life as fireworks exploded off the water and reflected on a modern building. To make a perfect moment even better, her darling husband brought us gelato icecream in bed. For those of you who have never had this Italian concoction of pure taste sensation, you must leave this post immediately and wait in line for a cafe' of your choice to open so you don't live a moment longer without this heavenly decadence. And speaking of food, Nick and I were treated like royalty from the moment we arrived. First there was the Quiznos sandwiches that Al bought us from the eatery at the bottom of her building (because in my fantasy, there's a restaurant attached to my highrise also) Later that night, her husband brought home mouth watering Thai food. The next morning, Al's husband made us omelettes and coffee. Everything was so nice, I almost forgot I had a sick baby at home and my girls' weekend was ruined. I was under a spell of all things cooked for me, beautiful home gleaming and the hope of the whole world spread under my feet seventeen stories below.

Like any fairy tale, my vacation ended too soon. I wasn't woken up by a prince, but instead, a drooling toddler who had to use the bathroom. It was reality from there on out as Nick and I soon found ourselves back on "Thomas" headed to the Valley. Four hours of walking the halls, eating at the cafe car and chatting up every toddler on the six coach train, we unceremoniously arrived in Chatsworth. A bolt of joy shot through me as the first thing I saw was Pipsqueak, high on Papa's shoudlers, two pig tails flying. She looked fifty percent better, making my guilt of leaving her (which wasn't much, making me the worst mother on the planet) vanish. James had a mocha frappucino for me as well as a harvest sign he picked up at Walmart. I missed him. He missed me. And Sophie, though feeling better, still couldn't scream due to her enlarged throat.

A happy ending to a fairy tale weekend indeed!