Girls’ Week

It was just us girls last week.  Jesse was away talking smack about hurricanes so Hadley, Harper and I kept ourselves busy doing all sorts of fun things. (By the way, “Talking Smack About Hurricanes” was the exact title of the conference.)

If you’re ever unsure who  drew which picture, here is a signature Harper detail: she makes Hadley small.  In this picture, Hadley is behind us, says Harper.  Other times, Hadley is running to catch up.  Sometimes Hadley is simply younger and that’s why she’s smaller.  Ahhh, sisterly love.

We had plenty to do to fill our time. One afternoon, on Hadley’s suggestion, we went to Whole Foods to do homework.

Harper likes to do homework too, so I printed out some worksheets for her.  She said, “And while we’re doing homework, you can drink your coffee and read a magazine!” That’s what I do when it’s homework time, thank you Martha Stewart, and InStyle.

We went to ballet class.

Apparently Hadley thinks it’s disco funk ballet.  Ol’ girl can throw it down in Zumba, but ballet is a little more, ehem, refined.

We went to Corner Bakery for dinner and wrote some stories.

Hadley asked me to make a drawing so that’s the blob you see at the top.  I wasn’t trying to draw anything because I can’t draw anything.  This is a doodle, but Hadley came up with a story.  Well, the beginning of a story: “Once there was a butterfly and three bees. They were scared of each other. The butterflies thought the bees would sting. The bees thought that…” Thought what, Hadley?  What did the bees think? Don’t just bring bees up and leave me hanging!  Eck. Just thinking about them – even though it’s January – freaks me out.

We also had a blackout.

For about five hours on Tuesday last week, most of our neighborhood was without electricity. I’m not trying to make a big deal out of this, except that for me it was a big deal.   You know nature in its buck nakedness freaks me out. That whole “man vs nature” theme?  I’m not even trying to play that game.  Man vs a skyscraper? Fine. Man vs a subway? Bring it.  Man vs no lights, heat, and the inability to make coffee?  No thanks.

The three of us went out for dinner a neighborhood over and the restaurant we went to was packed and a buzz with talk of when the electricity would come back on. If ever. (That’s the way I think, you guys. It’s best to prepare oneself for the thought of never drinking hot coffee again.) When we came home, we held hands because we had trouble seeing the sidewalk that’s usually lit up by street lamps. Hadley was relieved to see that the emergency lights were on in our stairwell (which made it easier for me to get into the building), and, once we were inside three of our neighbors peeked their heads out of their front doors to ask if we had everything we needed.  Candles? Blankets? We were good, thank you, I told them.

Once we got inside, I lit as many candles as I could and stood flashlights in several rooms hoping the glow would make it less creepy.  Our portable DVD player had enough battery so the girls could watch a show, and while they were watching, friends from my neighborhood texted me either asking how I was and if I needed anything or humorously commiserating with me over our situation.

A little drawing, a little story telling, a couple nights out for dinner, and being thankful that I feel at home in my neighborhood when I’m single-momming it. Not a bad week at all.