When the World Paused - Day ? - A Storm, A Little Luck, and A Query

Today The Impossible Girl and I set out to be productive! We had things to do! So we did the things!

Odin wanted to get in the picture this morning.

We drove from 45 minutes south to the best little farmstand. I called ahead and put in an order for curbside delivery. They called me back within 20 minutes with the order filled and the total. I gave them my card information and away we went. We drove through a friend's awesome little coffee stand for breakfast, grabbed a school lunch to cover some grocery gaps and we were on our way, chatting it up with My Sailor en route.
It's a typical spring day here in Washington - which means a constant grey threatening sky that looks basically like it's 8am all day long... Oh, and it rains. Of course. We need the rain, so I'm not really complaining about it. As a California transplant, I decided before I moved here that I wouldn't allow rain to keep me indoors. As they say in the forest school circles - "There is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing." (Though they say it a bit more nicely than Alfred Wainwright.)

The Impossible Girl doesn't exactly share my sentiments, when there are none of her teachers and Forest School playmates involved. But today that worked in our favor...

After driving and getting our produce (which they put directly into the trunk - contact free delivery - Yeah!), we drove the 45 minutes back home, but we actually went a little further...

Last week I noticed they had removed some 'no entry' signs from a local park and taken down the barriers for parking. They replaced them with these signs at the entrances.

Sign read "SOCIAL DISTANCING Please maintain 6 feet of seperation."

Yeah! We sat in the car and had a snack while rain just pelted down. Though I brought our rain jackets and boots, The Impossible Girl had zero interest in discovering puddles in the making, so we waited to see if the storm would pass (and watched Finding Nemo The Musical on my phone, thanks to the magic of youtube). It took about an hour, but it passed and she was coaxed out of the car.  (With the help of a favorite-of-the-day kitty stuffed animal.)

The place was totally empty...

"Three roads diverged in a greenish wood, and sorry I could not travel all, and be one traveler long I stood..." - Not Robert Frost

Discovering Snail friends

Climbing Small Mountains

It was remarkable to step out into this familiar local park again. Especially in spring time after a storm. There were very few buzzing creatures to annoy The Impossible Girl, and plenty of places to splash.

I even got tickets to the greatest show...(I am a close personal friend of the performer)

It was tough to get her back in the car to go home. (It involved me playing Blue - the Raptor from Jurassic World - a thing she hasn't seen, but it's come up in our exploration of dinosaurs and love of theme parks. I ended up being a friendly raptor that was tired and needed to get in my 'cage'- aka the car...) 

Anyway, it was a fun detour, but as we were leaving the park was definately starting to fill up. So... PRO SOCIAL DISTANCING WALKING HACK - Go stomp in puddles after a rain storm. Most people will stay home.

  I spent less than 2 hours cleaning, but it was two hours too long. After we ate dinner, she wanted to cuddle up in my lap with my arms around her as if she was 2 years old again. It wasn't exhaustion. It was, "Mommy, can we watch a movie together?" With me not looking at the phone and just fully paying attention with her. Fully being present. While I love these snuggle sessions, I'm learning that she needs less of a break from me and more and more connection, even without the distractions of bugs or bunnies or birds or grass or the car. She just needs me to play with her more and be present more. 

As an adoptee, I'm very aware of connection issues. Training for Foster parenting gave me lots of tools and places to ask for help while kids are managing trauma. We've video messaged with friends and family members and teachers and My Sailor - we contact someone every single day. But she is more often than not DONE being on camera. And ya know what? I don't blame her.

Because - let's face it, the scale of change and the uncertainty of the future is more than a little bit traumatic. 

So grateful we had some fun along the way today.

The only medicine I know of for Trauma is connection.