A few weeks ago, we took a break from the hospital on a Saturday morning to spend a little time as a family. Between starting preschool and a lot of play dates hosted by generous friends of ours, the boys have spent an unusual amount of time away from me lately, and we were beginning to sense the strain of that. It didn't really matter what we did, just that we were together without distractions. So, Jim took us to work. Ha.
Fortunately, it was a for-pleasure-only trip. Jim is involved in the redevelopment of a wonderful, old building here in Atlanta, formerly called City Hall East. I've written about it before, but the short story is that the building was created in the 1920s to be the regional distribution center for Sears and Roebuck. Since then, it has played a number of important roles in Atlanta (if you're interested, check out this website), including as a government building that eventually fell into disrepair and then sat, abandoned, on the City of Atlanta's books. Jim's company purchased it in July (representing a huge break for the city) and has exciting plans to make it into a center for commerce and community alongside Atlanta's future light rail line and greenway, the Beltline (you can see the first section of the Beltline in process behind the boys).
On this particular Saturday, we went to the building for two reasons. First, Big Brother is fascinated by this project. It helps, of course, that he idolizes his father and that he seems to have a genetic pull toward anything related to architecture and building, but I think that he also gets, on some level, the coolness factor of the place. Second, Jim wanted to show us the super-duper new vehicles he has been using for touring people around the massive space. So I got to ride a Segway (I realize that they're dorky-looking, but they really are amazing), and as a family, we roamed around in a all-terrain golf cart called "The Beast." Big Brother said (and I quote): "Mommy, can I call this the rocket car?" Yes, I said, you can call it whatever you'd like. He responded, "This is the best day of my entire life."
I won't lie. It was totally fun. We laughed a lot, marveled over what Jim explained as the plans for the place, and exulted (in a way that you can only really do with little kids) in discovering long-forgotten treasures in the dark "secret" passageways of the building.
And I used my camera again, which was fun, and welcome. Hospitals don't exactly inspire creative energy. I even laid down on my back to take this picture of the tower.
In other news, my dad is home and slowly recovering from his difficult surgery. I am profoundly thankful for his progress and for time with him, and I am very slowly learning to respond to his journey one day at a time, without being terrified of the future. Today, God has given me the faith to remember that He is holding my dad, my mom, my boys, and all of our tomorrows. We are so grateful that we can depend on Him.
Thank you for your words of compassion and especially your prayers. I'm hoping that I'll be back here consistently soon!
p.s. The first picture of this post was taken of Big Brother on a bridge along the Beltline that over looks a music venue called the Masquerade. My only experience there was in ninth grade, I think, at an outdoor Dave Matthews Band concert. They were mostly just a college band then, so we were able to get good seats and I remember being very close to Boyd Tinsley and that fiddle and thinking I was very cool to be there, and to see him hanging out with fans in the parking lot afterwards (I wasn't cool enough to be one of those fans, however, which is a good thing because they were all high as kites). Isn't that funny? It seems like an eternity ago.
Oh my goodness, I love the Indigo Girls. I've seen them, I think, 8 times, including last summer, when I was pregnant! Enjoy the concert!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your dad is recovering.
It looks like you guys had a great day out, and I'm also very glad to hear that your dad is getting better. <3
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