Two Things
#1: Holy crap, Soren is nine months old today. Wow! Nine months go way faster after the kid is born than when you’re pregnant. (Although isn’t a pregnancy technically 10 months? I’ve kind of forgotten everything educational about pregnancy, which I guess is okay considering the overwhelming likelihood that I’ll never do it again.) Having a baby is much more fun than being pregnant. Having a nine-month-old is much more fun than having a newborn. It’s kind of cool how this being-a-parent thing keeps getting better and better, especially because none of the stuff before sucked or anything.
#2: I really love the Denver Botanic Gardens. I got a membership when I was pregnant, because I was crazy and thought I’d want to take a newborn there all the time, like, in the winter. I imagined getting dressed up in sweaters and cute boots and popping over to check out whatever is alive at that time of year. That was dumb and I never did it and you’re lucky if, in those early days, I left the house or even changed out of a horrible nursing tank and paint-spattered maternity pants, but now that Soren is old enough to kind of appreciate stuff, it’s really fun to go there. If there’s ever a day we don’t know what to do with, I’ll suggest going to the Botanic Gardens. I’m never disappointed and Soren and Ben seem to like it.
What’s cool is that it’s really close to our house. It’s easy to get there and park, so there’s no pressure to have some big, awesome, amazing time because of how much effort it takes to go. I hate that sort of thing (and that’s probably why I’ve always hated New Year’s Eve — so much effort, never that much fun). It’s never annoyingly crowded and it’s easy to navigate, even with a big giant jogging stroller.
It’s cool, too, because you can find spots where you feel like you’re not in the middle of the city. I mean, yeah, you’re surrounded by buildings and stuff, but sometimes you find just a little bench looking out over a pond or a tiny little waterfall, and it’s like you’re in your own little world, at least until you hear someone’s kid yelling about how she doesn’t like this part of the park and it’s yucky, but in a few minutes your kid is going to be making pterodactyl noises while practicing not-crawling on a nice patch of grass, so whatever. It’s all good.
I don’t even mind the weddings. We often go to the gardens on Saturday/Sunday late afternoon/early evening, and there’s almost always at least a wedding or two. Today there were two (and weirdly, yesterday when we went for a walk at City Park, there were two weddings there, also — I kind of feel like a wedding magnet right now). It’s kind of a bummer when you’re at the Botanic Gardens and sections are closed for a private event, but it’s also kind of fun to watch people arrive and depart. You’re always tempted to crash or at least try to snag some beer (although I’m not sure that people have receptions there — the big-ish wedding we saw today was just the ceremony, and people just about flew out of there to, we assumed, get to the reception and start drinking beer). It’s almost like you get to enjoy the fun of a wedding — watching people, scoping out the fashion, and listening to the music (today’s wedding featured “Could You Be Loved?” by Bob Marley, which is totally awesome) — without actually having to attend the wedding. I don’t know.
I kind of enjoy the buzz of a wedding while we’re just there, doing our thing. That’s probably weird — but sometimes I like people watching or being a passive observer of an important event. I also really like listening to Ben talk on the phone. That’s weird, isn’t it? Sometimes, maybe when I get overwhelmed with too many things to worry about, I just like to slip into mellow mode and enjoy being around other people’s lives, without worrying so much about my own. It’s like a kind of meditation for people with ADD who are too impatient to actually meditate.
It’s actually kind of a good lead in to my new hobby, which I’ll tell you about next time. It’s kind of weird, but I hope you’ll find it at least a little entertaining.
