My Grace plan was to blog in the evenings. Well, as I’m learning as a single parent, plans change. I put Grace to bed circa 9pm. On Sunday, she slept straight through until 7:30am. I was able to write in the evening and workout in the morning during her slumber. Last night, she went down about 9:20pm. And I followed 5 minutes later. I was exhausted. I don’t know how parents do it 24/7/365. I was just on day 2 and living for two had drained me of my energy.
We started our day riding the Red Line train to theatre camp. Grace loved the train. Because of the commuter crowd, we didn’t have seats. That wasn’t a problem for Grace who sat on the floor when the train descended into a subway.
We arrived at Emerald City Theatre Camp a little early. The camp is at the Royal George Theatre from 9am-3pm. On the first day, there was a special meeting for parents. And of course, I attended. They reiterated the nut free zone…no peanut butter, no granola bars with nuts, no nuts! I think this new finagled allergy for kids is so odd. I don’t remember anyone in my childhood being allergic or let’s even say living in fear of the power of a nut. Yet, today ‘nut allergy‘ is whispered with death sentence-like horror. I also wonder what happened to a past camper to ban nuts completely from the Emerald City.
Did I mention Grace’s theatre camp is doing Mama Mia? It might not have occurred to me before. Now because I’ve heard the song ‘Mama Mia” a bazillion times, it’s a reoccurring thought. She loved camp. When I picked her up, she came out singing and only paused for a few brief interludes. I’m hoping we will get more of the score as the weeks go on.
To celebrate her stint in Chicago, a few friends joined in for Grace’s Monday night adventure. My cronies, Bill and Ellen, plus my niece Abi’s gaggle, Sarah and Taylor, went with us by water taxi to Chinatown. This is my third time doing Chinatown by water. It’s a picturesque way to see the city by river. The actual Chinatown dock is a pagoda surrounded by a park and playground. The main restaurant and shopping strip is about six blocks from the river.
We ate at my favorite restaurant, Moon Palace. The food was delicious. And the mai-tai’s came in decorative glasses. We filled the lazy susan with potstickers, crab ragoon, salt and pepper fish, orange mandarin beef, orange chicken, fried rice, and more. It was a Chinese feast.
Following dinner, Grace and I took the Red Line train right back to our original morning station, Addison. The day had come full circle. The sun was setting and so was I. Even Grace, who had gotten her second wind on the river and engaged in her own style of theatrical feats for our dinner companions, was now dragging. I opted for a cab over walking. We already had hit my fitbit goal of 15,000 plus we had a bath and a lunch to make.
Motherhood!?
To quote my favorite TV mom Loralie Gillmore, “I can be flexible. As long as everything is exactly how I want it, I can be totally flexible.”