Heat

It's sweltering here. Like I remember from when I last lived at home, in the attic, during the summer, with no central air. Sweating at 11 pm. But more oppressive. The hottest year on record. I hope Peter and his peeps in Bali make some headway on this climate change fiasco.

Today mom and I took Josie to look at a "new school." A google search revealed that Gallaudet University (for the deaf) has a day care. The Child Development Center. As it is four blocks from my school, I figured it was worth consideration. Despite the fact that the children's groups are labeled A1, A2, B1 etc. Despite the fact that there was little information online and the office manager was marginally helpful. We went to tour and it was... Fine. More than fine? Better than the Y. More space, located on a beautiful campus, lots of gross motor opportunities and outdoor forays to a duck pond and three different playgrounds. A warm teacher, DC native who has been at the school for 13 years, gave us a tour. The facility is a bit shabby, but lots of windows, evidence of child centered learning, and access to the lab elementary school's facilities. And affordable. Josie said she could go there, she liked it. Not a pedigree Montessori education, but bilingual (ASL and English) and distinctly DC. The central air was certainly seductive.

While we navigated the streets of DC and several construction zones, Jasper enjoyed a date with Pepe to the zoo, complete with lemonade, popcorn and a movie afterwards. Heaven.

Josie keeps asking when Papa will come home, but assures us that he is in Indonesia and working. She is taking this move hardest of all, but hanging in there.

And then this evening mom and dad gave me the night off. I took the L2 down to Adam's Morgan to meet up with a friend of a friend. A former classmate of Peter's and friend of Danielle's who graciously invited me out for a drink. As I coasted down Connecticut Avenue I was struck by a realization. I am in my element. I am back in the city, where I had wanted to be, where I intended to live. By chance. When I married Peter I did so willingly (enthusiastically) with the understanding that I was going to live in a semi-rural setting perhaps forever. No problem. But coasting down 18th street I felt relieved. This will be good for me. If only for a while, I will be glad to be in a city, among throngs of people immersed in their own existences, separate but tangent to my own, quaking with potential. At some point I will long for quiet, but for now this does feel good.

Jasper's after school program offers African drumming and dance, visual art, piano, creative movement, Spanish dance. Josie will be learning ASL, which I have always wanted to know. We will eat Ethiopian, Korean, West African, Salvadoran cuisine whenever we wish (and can afford). We will pine for mountains and coast and family and friends from the north, but we will make the most of our time here. We will immerse ourselves in the most current trials and trends of environmental and educational policy. Our children will grow up as minorities in a a country where minorities are the majority. Surely, good may come of this.

Tomorrow, a day off from mothering. What to do?