Today Peter, Camille and Stefan all had appointments with my cousin the dentist (one of Portland Monthly's Best Dentists I might add. I don't go to him because he's my cousin, I go because he graduated #1 in his class, and he gives Peter all the happy pills he needs to get him to show up and get his teeth cleaned.) We camped out in the waiting room with trucks and homework and knitting and the crossword and books and the ipod and Martha Stewart; we made a day of it
After about oh, 16 hours, I needed to get the kids out while Peter was still in the dentist chair. I groaned when the receptionist suggested it, but the zoo is right next door practically. I'd been scheming on how I could drag them to a second-hand store. The kids knew I would say no, so I surprised them by saying yes to the zoo. Every dentist should be next to a zoo. It was like getting an epidural to go from the dentist's waiting room to the sunny, leafy zoo in a matter of five minutes. Lemonades in hand, we walked around admiring the giraffes' stride and spots, watching a chimpanzee lay on his back and chew leaves and seeing pretty birds hop around in the sunshine. It was a balm. I usually hate going to the zoo, but I want to go back tomorrow; don't tell the kids.
Then we went to Uwajimaya. I was too distracted by Stefan, who would not stop asking for some thirty dollar Japanese fire engine book, to figure out which of the hundreds of craft books I wanted to buy. I will regret that. I should have just bought five of them without even looking. I loaded up on British Harcourt tea, Uwajimaya is the only place I know that carries it, besides a grocery store in Toulouse. I've squirrelled it away in the wine cellar to find later when we unpack, along with the champagne, costco-sized mega ketchups and cases of Two-Buck Chuck that I am hording. Every time I go to Trader Joe's I buy an extra maple syrup. That's the extent of my planning for this thingie called moving overseas.
We got travel orders. Portland > Washington DC > London > Niamey. Also many confusing emails about per diems and appointments and shipments and authorizations. I have too many details today--Oregon state taxes, reimbursement for medical expenses, getting the kitchen cabinets painted--to get worked up about things I can worry about later. Official travel orders make going to the dentist, the zoo, and Uwajimaya so poignant.
The zoo. The zoo was just what we needed.