To take away the aching in your heart

Yesterday was rather a lovely and intriguing mix of events and people. Due in part to last week's falling down the rabbit-hole, which I'd sensed was going to happen, I'd arranged for my mom to watch my son all day. You, in the back -- did you hear that? Alllllll daaaaaaaay. The parents among you will understand what kind of melange of sweet relief and bitter guilt that can bring with it. Every now and then I would begin an imaginary dialogue with my son, whose vocabulary is currently limited to hello, uh-uh, agua, [water], mama, dada, woof-woof,and pan [bread], wherein I would say things like, I miss you so much! But I need a break so that I can be a better mama! I never stop thinking about you or caring! It's not that I don't want to be around you, and I know my time is limited with you during the week, and now I'm giving up most of my two days a week I get with you, but that doesn't mean I don't love you or miss you! At that point I mostly successfully got myself to shut up. Obviously, that way madness lies.

In any case, I met up with the lovely and amazing Miss A, and she treated me to a manicure and pedicure. Coffee followed, then a focus group held at our friend Miss C's house. Miss C is an attorney and had a client who, along with a partner, is starting a website that will be a Los Angeles city guide to the best of the best services, places, etc. The founders were interested in feedback from types like us, so a bunch of girls spent a couple of hours talking, laughing, having hors d'oeuvres, cupcakes and mimosas, and giving our opinions on the website, its design, its services, and so forth.

Typically these days I find myself lacking in patience for LA types; it was a fun experiment of sorts ten years ago, when I worked in entertainment and wanted to see if I could infiltrate the ranks of the stereotypically bored and spoiled wanna-bes. Now I am just annoyed. I braced myself for the inevitable, and sure, there was some of that. But through a seemingly random set of circumstances, I ended up having the most intriguing conversation with one of the women there. She was intelligent, witty, down-to-earth, and did not speak in a syrupy voice. Oh, and every single topic we brought up unearthed the same stance, opinion, and/or experience from each of us, so much so that toward the end we were each a little embarrassed, like we were a bit too exposed. But never mind; I found myself saying I have to get your email address! We obviously have a lot to talk about! and she agreed. We're in similar places in our lives; we each have a child less than two years old; we're each working on a short story collection; we follow the same philosophy when dressing to go out (look in the mirror, then remove one accessory); we have similar ideas about modern society and advertising and the government; we've each lost the ability to speak as proficiently as we used to prior to having a child; and so on. Oh, perhaps most importantly, she loves Greg too. I think this might be good.

I then went to a silly, sweet, fluffy movie on my own (a first). It was every bit as delightful as I'd hoped, and I have a renewed faith in Hugh Grant's excellent hips.

When I picked up my boy and headed home to find my husband waiting, all was well with the world again.