Thursday, December 11, 2003

The Antidote to Cabin Fever and Depression

I actually got out of the house yesterday.

And had a really wonderful time.

One of my oldest and dearest friends, a person I consider to be a sister, came up to visit Mikro and me.

We went on a jolly little jaunt, shopping at The Westchester Mall in White Plains. Upscale in the extreme. Way outside my budget, but really fun to see how the other half lives. The anchor stores are Nordstrom's and Neiman Marcus. I couldn't afford anything in there, but I had fun trying on $465 hats and $300 scarves... (If the hat had been $46.50, I would have snapped it up, LOL. It had orchids and foliage sculpted in wool, an actual piece of wearable art.)

Most fun of all was hanging out with my friend and Mikro, and watching the two of them together. Cin would make a great mama.

We had lunch at my favorite diner, The City Limits, and then made the rounds of the mall, picking up small but really cool presents for the people on our lists, and for each other. Cin bought me a beautiful silk folder with colored pencils and a watercolor pad, a bottle of perfume I liked, and a beautiful tea towel with scotty dogs appliqued on, which I am going to make a pillow out of, to match my scotty dog sheets... She got Mikro his first teddy bear, and a really cool plush fire truck that zips open to reveal a fireman, dalmation, hydrant and pail of water, all of which are rattles or noisemakers. He'll love it now for the texture and sounds, and later for imaginative play. I bought her a couple of blouses she picked out in Abercrombie & Fitch, and treated her for lunch.

We used the Mothers' Room at Nordstrom's when it was time to breastfeed Mikro and change his diaper. It was a really nice, comfy, private area. Best public breastfeeding accommodations I've yet found.

We brought my SUV of a stroller with us, and it carried all our purchases handily. But it developed a horrible high pitched wheel squeak, and I started to think someone would ask us to leave, it was so noisy. No one did, of course... I wonder if the poor thing was protesting at being so overloaded?

Mikro was so incredibly pleasant and well behaved all day. And it was a long day for him. He took a two hour nap in the stroller, had bananas and yogurt at the Diner, and sat up looking around and charming people the rest of the time (four plus hours). We got tons of comments about how alert and social he is (and of course, how cute. My son is a complete flirt!)

We had a blast, and spent too much money (this is the first Christmas in about seven years that I could afford to be truly generous, and I admit I went a bit overboard), but it was a really fun day.

I don't have many of those.

Yes, I love my son, and he makes me smile on a daily basis. And laugh more than I have in years. I love my husband too. And I am constantly amazed and appreciative at the gift of seeing a whole new side of him that fatherhood has brought out. But I am usually depressed and in pain, and the endless stream of daily life trapped in the house, a prisoner of pain and anxiety, gets old.

It's rare for me to really let loose and have a good time. Cin helped me do that. She's a great friend!

We ended the day vowing to get together more often. I hope we do!

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