High Point, Low Point

The low point of this week was that my two house elves left me. We had such a fun time together exploring Philadelphia. I will always remember that my first visitors in Philly, who helped me unpack and be bold enough to get out and explore, were two of my beautiful nieces. They were brave as I took them to the airport, helped them check in at the curb, and then pointed them in the right direction to get to security and their plane. I am glad they had each other.

The jury is still out on the high point of the week. Josh’s nomination is that he was a assigned a big locker at Wharton. I guess it a pretty stiff competition for said lockers. Now instead of being the geek wearing a scooter helmet, carrying all his books on his back, holding a laptop in one hand and his GPS to guide him to class in the other hand, he will be able to strut down the halls with confidence. Well, at least he will have a place for his scooter helmet and his computer at school. Now if he can just remember the locker combination!

Kate’s nomination for high point of the week is that we went on an exploring expedition into Fairmount Park (Philly’s equivalent of Central Park, which we live right next to) and found a playground with swings. She was literally bubbling over with excitement as we approached. She said, “Oh good, Mom, now we can come here every day!”

Jane’s nomination was walking to the mailbox. That little girl loves the city. She walks down the sidewalk like she owns the place. She stops to smell flowers in pots and sit on stairs that are just her height. Occasionally she will hold her sister’s hand, less frequently her Mama’s, but sometime she just wants to be on her own and explore.

My vote for high point goes for the fact that after three weeks of eating on the floor, we finally purchased a kitchen table. We spent all day yesterday going to furniture stores. We had two goals: bunk beds for the girls and a kitchen table. We went to thrift stores, “Brother’s” like stores (if you remember last week’s story), leads off of Craig’s List, good old IKEA, and any other store with an open sign that we passed. It was quite a day. Exhausting but successful. Tomorrow we will pick up the bunk beds. Wednesday the table will be delivered and set up by someone else. That will be a happy day.

I went to my first Relief Society enrichment meeting on Saturday, “Sewing with Abby.” It was fun to see the Relief Society functioning in such a familiar way in such a different place. I learned some things too. I sewed my first button hole and zipper by hand! I hope I don’t have to do either again. They were so sloppy! I was trying to get to know some of the sisters in my ward and remember their names. I started making a list of names as I waited for Josh to pick me up. The problem is I would write a name and then try to think of a way to remember that sister. After about the fourth name and the fourth description being “big, black lady,” I chuckled and gave up on the descriptions.

Josh passed his first exam at school. It was a calculus review. I’m taking partial credit because I lent him my calculator and remembered that integrals existed. When I found out Wharton had a “Pre-Term” all I could see in it was that I would have to move a month earlier than I was expecting. But now that we are here, I really see the wisdom in the idea. It is nice to be able to be figuring out routines, getting household issues taken care of, and getting back in student mode before the classes really count. I guess someone knew what they were doing.

The fun cultural moment of the week happened amidst our furniture search yesterday. We literally made the rounds of Philly. We were in the middle of a relatively busy street in one of the medium scary neighborhoods in Philly when on both sides of the car were groups of young black kids holding football helmets in the air and chanting something. We rolled down our window and handed them a buck or two. It was cute. Perhaps we get a little too extravagant in our fund raising schemes sometimes.

We stumbled across a fun Amish Market yesterday as well. We stopped for lunch, picked up some of the prettiest produce I have ever seen, and admired the skill of their crafts. I marked the location on the map because I think we will want to return there often.

The final story of the week is another Kate story. As we left Salt Lake Grandpa Larry gave Kate a box with a string of butterflies to hang in her room. I hung them up one day this week. A few minutes later Kate came running into the room where I was working on the next unpacking project and said, “Mom, come here quick! You have to see. It is incredible. (It takes all her concentration to form that word). Come see the credible beautiful flies.” Then she grabbed my hand and took me into her room to see the simmering string of butterflies. It was such a precious moment. I wish Dad had been there.

So, come to Philly! Come see the incredible beautiful flies, the park with swings, the big locker, the skinny streets lined with pots, the Amish market, the consistency of the church, and the diversity of people. We promise not to drag you to any furniture stores!