There is a well-known expression, “not all who wander are
lost,” but sometimes you just are.
This week, my mom & I flew to St.
Louis to visit my grandpa after his heart surgery. We spent the 3 days
showing him the much-needed love & hanging out with other family members
until returning home to Stuart.
On the way home, our flight to Chicago
was delayed & therefore, our connection home was missed. If you know
the Harvey clan at all than you know we have had zero luck in airports lately,
stuck in a land my mom likes to call “airport hell.” In the past 2 years,
every storm across the country & every issue a plane could have left us in
another lovely airport hotel. (Shoutout to AC for providing Marriott love
when the going got rough & the airport wasn't able to help a sista
out).
Anyway… here we were, “Mommy &
Rachele together at last without those icky boys” stuck in Chicago for the
night with a 9:20 am flight. After the initial disappointment of landing
in Chicago after our flight home took off in front of us, I came up with the
most brilliant beyond brilliant of plans. What if we took advantage of
this sucky situation & spent the following day exploring the city? Make lemons out of lemonade, right?
Now I know everyone approaches their moms
differently because moms are known to self-destruct at any time, especially
when under unnecessary stress, but for my mom, you just have to work that pros
list, mix in a little chutzpah, smile uncontrollably, & make her
laugh. It only took me 4 hours to work my argument until she was calling
American Airlines herself to change our flight to 6 pm the following day. She may have whined along the way in her
little exasperated struggle that usually gets me to stop heckling her, but I
didn’t budge, & if I hadn’t, this blog wouldn’t exist.
When moms go rogue take 1.
Of course when I called AA at first, a
woman answered, who could smell my fear & lack of domineering chutzpah,
& told me changing our flight to a later departure time would cost us $200
a person. I hung up feeling defeated
after fighting my mom for 4 hours to simply consider the idea of “spontaneity,”
but I convinced her to use her feminine wiles to change their minds. The truth is… my mom’s got talent. I am pretty sure she could smell the fear on
the operator and he had no choice but to give the woman what she wanted. 6 pm flight, no charge, plenty of seats, badabing
badaboom.
We ate a deep-dish dinner at Gino’s
Eastside to maintain our figures & then woke up to a day in Chicago. We began our spontaneous adventure with an
architecture boat cruise through the city, a trip down memory lane for my mom
& a practically brand new memory for me (I had visited Chicago once before circa
1998, but due to recent budget cuts in memory & in iCloud storage, I have
very little space in my brain for vacations pre-2001. They gotta be there somewhere though, right?).
Anyway, the water cruise was beautiful
& the city has buildings like no other.
Apparently after the 1871 fire that Ms. O'Leary's cow started, Chicago created an
architecture competition to rebuild the city.
Therefore, it is a relatively new city that grew right alongside Lake
Michigan. The buildings tower alongside
the river that snakes through the heart of the city & what is even more
special is that a walking path has been preserved all along the river for
pedestrians & joggers to enjoy.
After the end of the tour, we walked
along the river walk & up to the street level on Michigan Avenue where we
explored. The eclectic architecture
between modern, classical, & impressionism was fun to look at & the
size of everything around us was much larger than anything we’d ever see in
Stuart, obviously. Fun Fact: the only
hill in Stuart used to be a landfill…
Once we walked up & down the “Magnificent
Mile” a few times, we crossed the river toward Millennium Park to see “The
Bean.” This strange curvaceous structure
is fairly new to Chicago, but is an interesting sculpture because it reflects
the view of the city & yourself & it is shaped like… you guessed it, A
BEAN!
Our walkabout Chicago was short-lived,
but definitely a positive compared to being stuck in “airport hell” with a
displeased attitude. We felt like Ferris
Bueller for the day… skipping out on reality to a day in the city. Maybe we didn’t have a random parade to “twist
& shout to” or a visit to the impressionist museum to stare at tiny dots
for hours, but we did have our spontaneous outing that was 100% out of
character… maybe not for Ferris, but for us!
I have known my mom for a little over 21
years now, & I will admit she is pretty fantastic all-around, but
specifically what I can say about her is that she can plan. Whether it is a safari in Africa, a RV adventure
through Alaska, a Spring Break trip to Costa Rica, a ski trip to Colorado, a
summer getaway in Europe, a tour through China, a road trip up the east coast,
a casual visit with Daniel, or my Bat Mitzvah in Israel, my mom has an
itinerary planned out & sent to family, friends, pets, the police station,
& any acquaintances in the tri-state area.
She is more organized than most people I know & can plan a trip like
a ninja on steroids. Her keen sense of
travel is what has made my childhood such a perfect adventure & has given
us all such wonderful lives.
So… I guess what I am trying to say is
that my mom has always been a planner.
This, of course, is not a negative, but is an attribute that I believe
highly describes her motivated self.
That is why this spontaneous layover in Chicago was a wonderful surprise
to me. I have to admit I did not think
I’d win the argument, but I guess that is what is great about my mom… she
always puts myself & Daniel & Scott first because she loves seeing us
happy.
I don’t remember where I heard this
story… it may have been a question Daniel asked or just some oral tale passed
down among knowing mothers, but I was told that a child turned to his or her
mother once on Mother’s Day &
said, “why isn’t there a kids day?” The
mother than replied with, “because every day is kids day.” & it’s true. How lucky are we kids to have a day devoted
to us almost every day of the year?
But today is her day. Happy Mother’s
Day to the most devoted & wonderful MAMA BEAR around. I know I have written posts before about how
lucky I am to have a mom like mine, but sometimes she just goes above &
beyond… like all the time really. I love
that you can laugh at yourself & your stupid questions, I love that you
call me “Baby Bear,” I love that when you smile your face does too, I love that
you listen, I love that you are sensitive like me, I love that you have
specified “off duty” times of the day, I love that you recycled that vest that
you loved so much (you know what I’m talking about), I love that you like to
travel, I love that you can talk to anyone & to walls, I love that you have
chutzpah, & I love that you love me (PS: Everyone else out there who is
reading this should be SUPER jealous that she is not your mom because she is
awesome & you’re missing out!!!).
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME! (&
it is possible…).
