Off from school.
But not from work.
Monday is Monday and the work week has begun.
The monkeys had off today, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
One of them had a play date with a school friend and so the oldest and I had our own solo adventure.
We went to the Exploratorium on Pier 15 down by Fisherman’s Wharf.
I have not actually been to it since it moved from the Palace of Fine Arts.
It was awesome fun.
The whole day was pretty much awesome fun.
We rode the bus, we took the train, we caught the F-Market trolley.
Riding the MUNI when I have no objective, no schedule, no rushing, is actually rather a pleasure.
The 24 line has extraordinary views.
The F-Market trolley is historic and just a sweet and awesome adventure, especially on a pretty day in San Francisco with a 6 1/2 year old boy.
We talked trains a lot today.
A lot.
We even got stuck on the F-Market for a while when the bus in front of us ran out of gas.
I shit you not, on Market Street by the Powell cable car turn around.
The bus just crapped out.
Of course we were stuck, but there was so much to see and explore, most the people got off and went their ways.
Me and my charge stuck it out, explored the trolley car, talked to the driver and eventually caught another bus to The Ferry Building.
We walked around there, hit the loo, got him a banana and me a cafe au lait, then caught the next F-Market to pier 15 and spent literally the entire day there.
We had a blast.
We had lunch there, the cafeteria much better than I was expecting and the view, well fuck, it was basically the span of the Bay Bridge.
Really can’t complain about a window seat right by the water looking at a glorious piece of architecture.
My charge and I ran around all day and occasionally I would sit and just watch him play.
The sweetest was watching him engage with a group, three girls, of just barely pre-teen or tween girls who had still enough playful enthusiasm to be taken with my precocious charge and his directing the play.
I watched and it just melted my heart.
I had no need to do anything, not check my phone, or corral or coerce, I just sat and watched them play.
My charge had told me about his recent crushes on girls and he was in 7th Heaven.
I wasn’t going to ruin the moment for him at all.
The only interruption was taking a photograph that all the girls were happy to comply with.
Such sweetness and generosity of spirit and simple joy.
It was just such a nice afternoon and really nice to take a break from school work and reading and getting my syllabi in order and my practicum stuff.
That being said.
I have my next readings outlined for Couples Therapy and I have them packed in my bag for tomorrow.
I will get some reading done tomorrow, even if it’s just to pick up the kids from school.
I am really digging the getting the kids from school.
It’s nice to have some time out in the world by myself and getting paid for it.
I get to make phone calls and check messages and connect with people.
I feel more seen and I feel that although my schedule has been a little up in the air, and will be for a few months, I’m ok with it.
I’m getting 35 hours a week minimum and when the baby is a little older and mom and dad are back at work it’s going to be 40.
If I don’t work the 35, if they let me go early or ask for me to come in late, I still get paid a minimum 35 hours.
Thank God for regularity and for sustenance.
I am so grateful and I didn’t even have to ask about last week, they paid me for the 35 hours.
Even though I had to call out two days in my first two weeks of work.
So there’s that.
Grateful.
I have had my moments of having to assert myself around my pay and when I receive it and what I get paid for, or don’t get paid for, and it was just easy and light and not weird.
I just took the check and said thank you.
I asked when they want me tomorrow and I got my start time.
I may be taking the middle charge to dance class.
Our own little solo adventure.
And at some point this week, not sure when, I will be taking a short side trip over to The Liberation Foundation on Folsom and 18th and speaking with the director there about the practicum program.
I have an open house to go to next week Wednesday and I want to be on top of the next moves.
Today I just wanted to have it be a Monday at work and not worry about school.
I knew that the most important thing was to show up on time to work and show up for my job, then to show up and do the deal with my people at 6:30p.m. tonight, and that if that was all I did today, that would be alright.
Of course.
I did sneak a few other things in there, some grocery shopping, and some writing, aside from this blog I got a good four pages in this morning.
I wrote a lot about Paris.
I realized how excited I was to be planning a trip there again.
I also realized that I have never really been to Paris in May.
Nope.
Paris in Spring.
Divine.
The first time I went was in 2002 and it was August and it was hot and the city was pretty emptied out, a lot of stuff was closed and did I say it was hot.
Holy shit it was hot and I had not realized that it was going to be that warm and I had not packed great clothes.
The next time I went was in June, 2007.
That time I was sober and smarter and had a much better valise of clothing.
Then I moved there in November of 2012 and was there until May 2013.
But I left on May 1st.
So technically I didn’t really get to experience it.
The last time was last Christmas, 2015, and though it was far warmer than when I had lived there, it was cold and a bit dreary, as Paris tends to be in the winter.
I am so stoked that I will be there in May.
Soft warm nights.
Warm to hot days.
Flowers blooming.
All the trees in the gardens blossoming.
The smell of the city, not too hot yet, but warm and inviting.
Ooh la la.
I am looking forward.
It’s a few months away, but as I have come to see, the days they do go by when I am pre-occupied with school and work and doing the deal.
Paris will be here before I know it.
Until then.
One more evening of reprieve before I dive back into the books.
I do think it only just and fair to let myself have at least a full day off.
Even if it’s not from work.
It still feels like a break.
Time for more tea and a quick video before bed.
Good night.
Sleep tight.
Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
Seriously.
I hear they have big teeth.
Shiver.
Auntiebubba 