This weekend was HUGE, and we had so much happening that I am going to give up all pretense of narrative thread and just use big headings like an undergraduate writing a term paper.
COLLEGE DROP
Dropping BABY HARRY at UW-Eau CLaire went great. Sure, we had a bickering fight (mostly Ben and me) right before we left but that is normal for our family because we like to use our words to express ourselves, so it was the only way we really could have kicked doff our weekend you know? Everyone acted like we were killing them slowly by asking 3 kids to sit together on a bench of seats made for 3 people, and a couple of people were annoyed that they could not pack their personal cords and chargers and device peripherals in a pack pack because space in the car was a little tight for the first leg of our journey and we asked people to either throw stuff in our bags or take something smaller. BUT WE PERSEVERED.
The very first thing we did was hit up a local sports bar and eat SO MUCH GARBAGE. I also had a Very Large beer, and this is a definite pro tip, so remember it when it’s your turn: Steps 1 and 2: Giant lunch. Giant beer. (Bonus points for leftovers for you kid’s dorm fridge).
Ben dropped Harry and me about a half mile from the dorm and took the other kids to grab a Target pick up order we placed from Madison for pick up on Eau Claire, and that was **chef’s kiss**. I had tome to make Harry’s loft bed and help him finish unpacking the rest of his stuff from last weekend and the final duffel bag he brought on Saturday, and we even sorted his stuff into piles while we waited for the shelving cubes, drawer storage, and rolling cart to arrive. I met his roommate and his roommate’s buddy, and Ben showed up with the rest of the stuff and kids to help carry it up (one trip!) at the perfect moment. We said goodbye, handed Harry some cash, and got the heck out of there.
Ben went back upstairs to throw a wiffle golf ball at Harry (they did this to each other for days and tried to catch the other person off guard, and he brought one in his pocket for one more gotcha), but when he got there, Harry’s door was open, and his roommate was back, and the two of them were assembling shelves with his roommate’s tools, and other people were milling the hall and dropping in on each other’s rooms, and Ben snuck away.
Last night at home: sushi and euchre. We played 3 games (eat to 10 points) so Harry could be everyone’s partner and started the weekend exhausted.
Ok, so move-in mom uniform seems to be cut offs and a college t-shirt. I also tried tall socks like the kids (stole them from Dorothy in fact) and like it a lot!
It is SO WEIRD that you just… drive way and leave your kid someplace after 18 years of constant helicoptering. THANK GOD FOR LIFE 360 (it’s me hi I’m the problem it’s me).
WEDDING REHEARSAL
We drove an hour or so past Eau Claire (kids were like so happy to be riding 2 in the 3rd row; it was bananas) to my cousin’s wedding. We shucked off our sweaty move in clothes and made it just in time to the lovely rehearsal dinner at the cutest little bar on the cutest little street in St. Paul. I haven’t been to a big family thing on my mom’s side since Thanksgiving pre-Covid, so this was Minnie’s first time to meet a lot of relatives. She is still not sure that my twin uncles are two people, actually. I kept expecting to bump into my dad, so that was sad— I could just imagine him there the whole time because I can’t remember a big family function (that last thanksgiving is the exception) without him. The panny really delayed a lot of that grief for me because, yes, it has been 5 years, but we did not see anyone for a few in the middle. Plus, I love weddings. The idea of speaking yourself into being is so appealing to someone who studies the power of words for a living. I also missed my grandparents who doted on Molly and were so delighted to have a late-in-life grandkid when the rest of us were past the cute age. They would have loved her wedding and seeing her so grown up and beautiful.
My cousin and I drank classic cocktails in Bomma’s honor (and also because, um, that’s just what we drink).
MALL OF AMERICA
The kids had plate after plate of hotel breakfast (suckers for waffles, all of them) and we spent a rowdy hour at the hotel pool on wedding morning
Ben and I both agreed that MoA is a VACATION DESTINATION, and we FOR SURE want to go back. If you have fond memories of malls from your 1990s life, you need to go to there. CINNABON IS THERE. It is a time warp in the BEST WAY. Also, Dorothy FINALLY found clothes she likes at Abercrombie Kids, and now I can order them online with confidence. (She is so teeny that the 000 short at American Eagle is too big. She is limited to Athleta Girl and Lulu, with the occasional Target find or Von Maur juniors item— maaaaybe something from kids at Von Maur but that’s a unicorn, and, sometimes, she wants a variety, and she is very picky, so she needs to try stuff on first. Phew! What sentence structure! And I didn’t even mention the Nickelodeon theme park in the middle. It’s a campy delight, the whole thing. And no sales tax!
We hit up a Whole Foods for pizza, sushi, and wraps to eat at the hotel (after gorging ourselves on mall sweets) and got dressed SO FAST for the wedding.This is where I made a terrible mistake. While Dorothy was relaxing in our room (we had a girls’ room and a boys’ room, and this was perfect), I decided to wash my face and start my makeup from scratch. BUT! I brought waterproof mascara and eyeliner, and they WOULD NOT come off. I had to use this Clinique makeup remover goop, and I got some in my eye, and it was red and swollen and weeping (just the right eye!) all night long. YUCK.
And then of course I did cry because weddings and my judge cousin and lawyer brother officiating and looking so adult and cute flower kids and strong golf course cocktails just like the ones at home and all of the things.
WEDDING!
END OF SUMMER
You bet your bottom dollar that we drove right back through Eau Claire and took Harry out for coffee before helicoptering back to Madison for the last! Whistle! Of! The! Season! At the pool (the pool that we will miss until we see it next May which I am sure will feel like no time because I am old and time is slipping through the hour glass at an alarming rate).
