So many feelings and memories are coming up. I am going back to the bay area, Los Gatos, for my grandson's graduation from grade school and the second grandson is graduating from middle school. Everyone is getting bigger. My youngest turned 40, oh my god. And my oldest, not counting my son who died, has twins 19 months old at 45 as a single mom. The other day we took two sets of twins to the Brooklyn Museum for Children. We weren't sure we were going to make it, Gigi and Tess were getting tired and it wasn't even 9:30. My friend Carol had been director of the museum for 12 years and had raised 8 million to run it. She also has Parkinson's and we take classes at Mark Morris Dance Studio together. She didn't make it to the museum, but when Amy pulled up in her station wagon and we got 4 car seats into the back, it was wild. At least the weather was nice, not pushing around a stroller in the snow.
"Oh Wow" Gigi said when she went inside the museum. It was quite amazing with all these nooks, crannies, sandboxes, water falls, the twins were so happy. It's fun to watch life through your grandchildren's eyes. They are quite magical, but getting four toddlers in a mini van is not easy! Amy and Jordan are "uber" mothers!
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Saturday, July 26, 2014
The Crossing Guards
We were at the park at 7:30 this morning. They have crossing guards at every block
surrounding the park, which is near a school that is open in the
summer.. And they are all different. First near Rite Aide is this tall
(almost 6 feet), young black woman who is always smiling, almost
laughing, as she greets you and lets you cross the street. She wears
her black hair up in a swooped cone on top of her head. She is very regal and innocent and she seems like a kid in a candy shop.
At another crossing a middle aged white woman, with a very plain short bob, greets you checking to see how everyone is doing. She says in a little bit she'll be going on her break (it's now 9:20), and then she'll come back at noon, and then when the kids get out at 3.
The third crossing guard is a young black man whose hair is braided and he has a back pack on. He seems a little overwhelmed with the process and takes it all very seriously. He didn't smile or say a word, just came over to help us cross the street.
At the top of the park is a young woman, thin, not smiling, just helping you cross the street and being done with it.
It's summer and a few minutes after we arrived the fountains were on for the children to run through. Jordan has made it a habit for several months to go out with the twins before going to work. Of course this is after being up with Tess from 5:30 on, feeding the girls, dressing the girls, cleaning up the kitchen,etc. By the time she goes to work she's already done a fulldays work.
Two mothers and one father arrived at the park with their nanny. The nannies were all black and overweight. They stood there while the parents watched their toddlers for a few minutes before going to work. They looked embarrassed and bored.
I watched this one very thin mother in a cute summer dress bring her 2 year old into the kids play area. The nanny stood there as the mother ran around with the little boy. She was about 20 pounds over weight in cut off jeans and a tee shirt. I wondered what she was thinking as she watched the mother play with her son.
Yesterday I went with Marie to a swim party in the afternoon. There was 12 toddlers and 9 nannies, all from "the islands" Marie said. Six of the women were overweight and everyone sat around and watched the children get in the wading pool and play in the wet table. There was no water or refreshments for the adults, just a wet table, a wading pool, and a sprinkler for the toddlers. I was the only white adult at this gathering, and the twins grandmother. Normally the nannies would feel uncomfortable with me around, but I don't seem to upset them too much any more. Marie has a whole group of nannies she has "play dates" with.
It's a whole world within a world, these few blocks surrounding the park, and in the morning you get the whole mass of humanity going to work, taking their kids to school, older people wandering the neighborhood. In LA everyone would be in their car and in traffic.
At another crossing a middle aged white woman, with a very plain short bob, greets you checking to see how everyone is doing. She says in a little bit she'll be going on her break (it's now 9:20), and then she'll come back at noon, and then when the kids get out at 3.
The third crossing guard is a young black man whose hair is braided and he has a back pack on. He seems a little overwhelmed with the process and takes it all very seriously. He didn't smile or say a word, just came over to help us cross the street.
At the top of the park is a young woman, thin, not smiling, just helping you cross the street and being done with it.
It's summer and a few minutes after we arrived the fountains were on for the children to run through. Jordan has made it a habit for several months to go out with the twins before going to work. Of course this is after being up with Tess from 5:30 on, feeding the girls, dressing the girls, cleaning up the kitchen,etc. By the time she goes to work she's already done a fulldays work.
Two mothers and one father arrived at the park with their nanny. The nannies were all black and overweight. They stood there while the parents watched their toddlers for a few minutes before going to work. They looked embarrassed and bored.
I watched this one very thin mother in a cute summer dress bring her 2 year old into the kids play area. The nanny stood there as the mother ran around with the little boy. She was about 20 pounds over weight in cut off jeans and a tee shirt. I wondered what she was thinking as she watched the mother play with her son.
Yesterday I went with Marie to a swim party in the afternoon. There was 12 toddlers and 9 nannies, all from "the islands" Marie said. Six of the women were overweight and everyone sat around and watched the children get in the wading pool and play in the wet table. There was no water or refreshments for the adults, just a wet table, a wading pool, and a sprinkler for the toddlers. I was the only white adult at this gathering, and the twins grandmother. Normally the nannies would feel uncomfortable with me around, but I don't seem to upset them too much any more. Marie has a whole group of nannies she has "play dates" with.
It's a whole world within a world, these few blocks surrounding the park, and in the morning you get the whole mass of humanity going to work, taking their kids to school, older people wandering the neighborhood. In LA everyone would be in their car and in traffic.
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