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New York Visit - part 2 of memories of Bard Bloom (and Vicki Borah Bloom)

  

That first visit started a flurry of them. I’m not sure who went where next. My memory is blurred. I’m going to start with the trip to New York just because there was only one, as far as I can remember.

New York

My family of four…there’s no euphemistic way to say this…we did not have a lot of money at the time. We were a one-income family and Dave worked for the Florida Virtual School, which was still a part of the school system, so Dave wasn’t drawing a corporate salary. We elected not to take Daniel since Ellie and Lavender were closer in age and likely to want to do the same things. Dave had to work and take care of Daniel.

 

The adults on the visit collectively decided that each of us would take turns going out at night and leaving one person to watch the two kids (who may have been asleep by then, not sure.) In addition, I think that Vicki may have had a night with her partner (now wife) J while Bard and I watched kids.

 

Here are some of the highlights:

Ellie

·       Ellie had a strange verbal tic that Vicki called “rebooting.” Whenever they felt overwhelmed or confused about what to say next, they would say, “Hi! I’m Ellie!” It didn’t matter that the person already knew them and had been introduced. It was a go-to verbal security blanket.

·       Ellie got bitten by some sort of animal at the farm/petting zoo we went to.

·       Ellie and I roomed together. Both of us had dry, dry skin from the change in climate. We piled on some Aquaphor that Vicki had.

·       Ellie loved the Bronx Zoo (and still does).

·       Ellie and I were not sure what to do with authentic Chinese food. We liked the buns.

·       Ellie says they were four when this trip occurred.

Lavender

·       Lavender was much more precocious than Ellie. They had a music class that I think we all went to.

·       Lavender was probably reading by this time.

·       Lavender had a bed full of stuffed animals (I think. I might be remembering this wrong. It seems plausible.)

·       Lavender was tiny and adorable.

Vicki

·       I believe Vicki had soapmaking things and we made soap this visit. There were synthetic (I think?) scents that I loved. To this day, I don’t think I’ve had soap that I loved as much as I did these. Did the kids help us pour them into molds? Was this a craft strictly for the adults? I have no idea. I think there may have been glitter involved.

·       On our night out, Vicki and I went to a coffee shop. It turned out that it was Open Mic night. There was a band of highschoolers playing Wonderwall. They weren’t half bad! There was an earnest folk singer (kind of terrible) and the earnest folksinger’s mother (very good.)

o   At the time I thought that the mother was a lot better and I was glad to hear her.

o   Now as the mother of a twenty something, I feel like, dude, stay in your lane and let your kid shine.

·       Vicki and I laughed while making a joke OK Cupid profile for me based on El Condor Pasa.

o   I would include examples here of what I’d rather be than what I didn’t want to be but those are all lost in the mists of time.

o   Unless Vicki remembers.

Bard

·       Bard made dinner for us one night and decided to make mice-shaped meatloafs. Ostensibly they were for the kids, but I think I was the one most impressed. They had little ears (made of olive halves?) and little eyes and tails.

·       Bard would read books with funny accents and just talk in funny accents in general. I remember laughing so much.

·       Bard pushed Ellie’s stroller when we were in the city, probably because I wasn’t used to the fast-paced NYC walking.

·       I had packed for spring in March/April. For me, this meant shorts and maybe one pair of jeans and a light jacket. Needless to say, Ellie and I were underdressed. I don’t know if maybe Ellie borrowed some of Lav’s clothes? If I packed more warmly for them? Anyway, Bard loaned me a pair of jeans. We were both thinner then. However, I’m not sure how it worked because I was a lot shorter.

·       Bard and I went to a restaurant on our night out. I don’t remember where we were or what we ate. I just remember talking nonstop.

o   No matter how fast you can type, you can’t type nearly as fast as you can speak. And as mentioned in the previous entry, Bard hated the phone.

o   As a result, whenever we were together there was a sense (at least for me) of making up for lost time. We would talk and talk and talk. I have no idea what we talked about.