Living Vicariously

A friend of mine recently moved to a new house.  She used to live in our neighborhood in a tiny house, and they were getting pretty crowded with all their children and dogs.  Their new place is a beautiful house with artistic architecture on a wooded lot outside of town.  She has big, big windows with gorgeous views of her land and plenty of room for her kids.  I love seeing the pictures she shares of her view over her morning coffee.

This morning, as I was heading to the dentist for a cleaning, I passed a couple maneuvering something rather large out to the street.  I slowed down, then slammed on the brakes as I recognized the object: a concert pedal harp, completely wrapped in its case but with that characteristic lopsided heart shape unmistakable.  They were wheeling it down ramps from the front porch, in preparation for hoisting it up into the back of the waiting minivan.  (The need to buy special “harpmobiles” capable of transporting a concert harp was almost a running joke in college…although the Powers That Be know that I already have a harpmobile now…just sayin’…)  Just the sight of the harp, and the knowledge that there is a heretofore-unknown harpist lurking in my neighborhood, were enough to make me smile.

Going into Foods for Living turns me into a kid in a candy store.  Organic food! Specialty cheeses from local dairies! Fair trade dark chocolate treats! Exotic chips and teas! I have a target, I have a goal, I have one, maybe two specific things I am here to get, but the whole way in and out is a string of, “Ooohh, this looks tasty!”  When I go there, I need somebody to follow me around with a print-out of my budget, ready to smack my hand with it every time I reach out for something. It’s nice to window-shop, though.

One of my kids had to get her eyes looked at by our retinal specialist over in the Detroit area this afternoon.  He didn’t find anything actionable in her eyes, and we were in and out just in time to spend two hours in rush hour traffic to get back home.  Not a mile after I got on the highway, we overtook a gorgeous gray Maserati in the next lane over.  He had a license plate that read “GOES185”.  I turned off the radio so we could listen to his engine purr while we were beside him.  Before we got off 696, we had also seen a Jaguar, a Porsche, and a Corvette, so many fancy cars that Caitlin finally wondered aloud where they were all coming from.  What a way to make me smile about sitting in traffic!

Published by solinox

I am a Wiccan priestess, a libertarian mother of triplets plus three, a wife and homeschooling mom to blind and autistic children, a fiber artist, and a Jane of All Trades, always learning and seeking to help.

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