a moment of clarity

e REALLY needed a haircut. she loves getting a cut mainly because it means a trip to her favorite mall. in some ways a trip to the mall makes me sad. it evokes a longing for my old mall- the mag mile in downtown chicago. for 5 years, that was my retail experience. i miss the hustle and bustle, the selection, the wind... but i digress. e needing a haircut is an exciting time for her. our suburban mall trip is action packed. we go out to lunch at egg harbor cafe, we play in kb toys, we let our imagination soar in the indoor tree house, we ride an indoor train a few times, AND we get a haircut. with two babes, this is getting to be quite the production. i'll get back to the mall trip in a minute.

on thursday night i went into the city for dinner with three of my close friends. our dinners always rejuvenate me. these gals are filled to the rim with wonderful traits. they are talented, successful, spiritual, wise, caring and also downright funny. we had a wonderful dinner and i enjoyed each minute, but left feeling somewhat sad. i miss these girls and don't see them as often as i would like. on my drive home, i started thinking about our move. i started asking myself, "what was our big hurry to get to the burbs?". i know the answer and also know that i have no right to feel sad about it. we loved the city, we think raising a family in the city is wonderful, and yet for us, it was a God thing. he wanted us in the burbs and who am i to argue or ignore the call from God? but none the less, i was having my own little pity party. fast forward to the haircut.

so i'm in the car pulling out of the neighborhood, passing through a little stretch of the forest preserve. e and i always look for deer. we haven't seen any in months and i'm getting a little irritated with the deer. don't they know that i have an eager 3 year old in car dying to catch a glimpse of them? we get to the end of the possible deer viewing area and neither of us spot one- i begin thinking about getting a salt lick to put out for them. suddenly e is screaming, "deer momma, deer!". i look up and standing at the edge of the road are SIX deer. hallelujah. i pulled over and e and i watched the deer for a few minutes. she was SO excited! suddenly, i found that my suburban pity party was over. the city may have the mag mile, but by-golly, on this grey winter day, e has her deer. and suddenly, the joy it brought to my little girls life, melts away my doubt over taking the suburban plunge.

we went on to the mall and i savored every minute of my girl's haircut extravaganza. she had a blast... driving her city taxi and all.

this video isn't very good. i promise to work on my skills for future postings.