Staying In The Moment

I’m finally learning what that phrase means. Yesterday we spent the day in Boston with both of our daughters and said fiancé. They planned a full day to celebrate our 60th birthdays in lieu of a party. We started with lunch on the waterfront at Jerry Remi’s. Next we walked to the Aquarium to see the recently renovated tank. It was amazing. The tank is round and in the center of the building with five viewing levels wrapping its way around it until you reach the top and can look down into it. Divers are in and out of it feeding and takings pictures. After the aquarium, we cabbed out to the Harpoon Brewery thinking we were getting a tour. The instructions weren’t well-explained and we waited 30 or more minutes in the hot sun only to find all we waited for was admission into the pub and all the tours were booked. I wasn’t happy. It was hot. I was tired. And I don’t drink beer – there’s nothing else there to drink. But my family was great – they gave me a glass of water and bought me a tee-shirt and soon I was a happy camper. We walked out of the brewery thinking we were facing a long hot cab ride to Quincey Market, when this gleaming black SUV pulled up and asked us if we wanted a ride. Seeing “Livery” on the license plate, we grabbed the chance to ride in cool style for a mere five bucks apiece. (It seems drivers of celebrities and wealthy people have to just wait around for their employers and do this kind of thing to make extra cash.)

Quincy Market was a success. Then there was a great rest stop on a corner bar, until 6 pm when we set off to walk to Howling At The Moon, a dual piano bar. One of Ashley’s friends joined us and we had a great time. (This time I got a pink tank top.) Dinner was next. We had a fabulous dinner at Panza’s in the North End. We sat right by the open front window – it was like sidewalk dining without being outside. Dinner was topped off down the street at Cafe Victoria with tiramisu, spumoni, and North End Expresso Martini’s. The evening ended with a room at the Weston on the waterfront for my husband and I. We hugged our kids goodbye at 12:30 am and were never so glad to have a hotel room in our lives. Cost to us for the day? Zero. The kids planned, paid for and executed it all.

I’m certain by now you are thinking I must have great kids. You’re right, I do. Both are successful, self-sufficient, happy, well-adjusted adults – and that was no accident. When I look at my girls and think what miracles they are and how blessed I am, I once again realize they are not miracles. It was the hours both my husband I invested over the years being present in the moments of their lives that gave them the tools they needed to become the people they are today. Yesterday they were entirely in the moment laughing and trekking us all over Boston, repeating what we used to do for them. I sat there looking at them across the numerous tables throughout the day and remembered how we were always actively engaged in all the moments of their lives from ball games to dinner every night, not to mention all the hours driving them to and fro and talking with them, not letting our minds shift to our own jobs and responsibilities.

Yes, yesterday there were things and other people on the back burner of my mind, but I left them there. Once again my husband and I fully participated in each moment that unfolded throughout the day. It is a proven fact that children will grow up and treat others as they were treated when they were young. The proof of that theory was taking my suitcase and lining us up for a family photo as soon as we arrived. And the best thing? My husband and I have given our future grandchildren a gift because we can be confident that our daughters will treat their children as they were treating us yesterday.

And so, as another day goes by, what goes around certainly does come around, a big hug and an big thank you to Erin and Steve and Ashley for that most amazing day, Dad and I love you guys, and… I have written.

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