Vacation index

50 years since my dad was ordained to the priesthood, the celebration which inspired our trip

45 minutes waiting for our friend, stuck in Oakland Raiders post-game traffic, to pick us up from the airport

40 minutes spent waiting for a Chicago bus one night before we gave up and took a cab, Ben and Eli’s very first unbuckled car ride ever (quickly followed by 2 more in the following days)

35 submissions to Mama, Ph.D. which I carried cross country and back but did not read (potential contributors, fear not; I’m reading them this week!)

30 pounds of mail waiting for us at home (no, I didn’t weigh it, but with 30 pound Eli on my other hip, I was nicely balanced)

25 pounds of magazines that I will never have time to read (time to cull the subscription list…)

20 days until we go out of town again

15 glorious, peaceful minutes when Ben and Eli played together on the plane

10 days away

9 hours travel to get home

8 family members we visited at our family reunion (Muzz, we missed you!)

7 years since our friends R&L; were married, our “who needs an excuse?” excuse to stop in Chicago and toast them

6 trips on Chicago’s El, to Ben and Eli’s great delight

5 trips on Chicago buses, to the boys’ equally great delight

4 long hours on the plane home

3 memorable dinners in Chicago: at the corner trattoria, where the host looked like a character from The Sopranos; at Frontera Grill, where my pomegranate mimosa made it ok that Eli wouldn’t stay at the table; and at Gourmet’s best-in-America Spring, which thinks perhaps it’ll keep kids out by not providing high chairs, but Eli picked the great northern beans out of Tony’s vegetarian cassoulet, R&L;’s son ate roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta, and Ben ate one of the three just-in-case pb&j; sandwiches we’d brought while the rest of us focused on the beautiful, delicious food

2 tired, wired boys at the end of the long trip, torn between playing madly with all their toys and collapsing into sleep

1 happy family, glad to get away, and glad to be home.

One Comment

  1. Lilian says:

    Phew!! Reading the list made me tired, I can’t imagine how tired you were! đŸ™‚

    I’m glad you’re safely home and I love the way you structured the post.