urban day

[I started this post weeks ago-- June 8. I apologize for the delay in posting.]

Wednesday was one of those days where I felt very “urban.” It was a mixed bag and I was exposed to all the good and bad this city has to offer in a 14hr period.

7am. Off to work. Uneventful.

11am. Done work (1/2 day vacation day)

11:15am. Pedicure at the nail salon on campus — nice to have a salon so close by. I get maybe 1 or 2 pedicures a year… so this is a treat for me.

12:00pm. Head over to Sweetgreen — a nice salad place on campus — for lunch. On the way I navigate through a construction site at 38th/Walnut. The whole scene is made much worse because for some unexplained reason Walnut is blocked at 38th and all traffic is being diverted.

12:15pm. Get my lunch and take it over to the park at 40th/Walnut. I notice 4 firetrucks, ambulances, and a crowd surrounding the Fresh Grocer store. The crowd is looking up. My heart sinks. I know immediately what they’re watching for. A jumper. Hoping I’m wrong I ask someone standing there and they confirm my fears: someone is up on top of the garage threatening to jump.

This makes my heart heavy and I send up a silent prayer that this troubled soul finds peace.

12:30pm. Pick up Maddy from daycare a few steps away from my lunch spot and then Maja from school 2 blocks from there — they have a ballet recital and need to be dressed and downtown at the theatre by 2pm.

1pm. Walk the 6 block shome and get my ballerinas ready.

1:30pm. Walk 1 block up to the trolley stop. I take a moment to be amazed at my little girls and their excitement about the evening’s recital. I take a moment to admire my urban ballerinas on the trolley. I take a moment to wish that they will have happiness and not ever resort to having to jump off a parking garage to find peace.

1:45pm. In Center City. Off the trolley. Up the stairs past the high school kids who are skipping school and smoking cigarettes in the stairwell. Past the buskers. Past the homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk. Navigating the sidewalks with the well-suited and well-heeled. Urging my ballerinas along… “c’mon city girl! walk!” — this makes them proud, to be a ‘city girl’ and walking through the throngs of lunchtime pedestrians.

2pm. At the theatre. In the backstage door. I drop my kids off with the chaperone and will return in 5hrs to see the recital. gulp. Now I’m free to run my errands.

2:30pm. Across town at PennDOT DMV to get my expired license renewed. Ah, the DMV — a cross section of life. Good people watching. Very good.

4pm. Done. Finally. Phew. Heading back across town to meet the hubs for an anniversary dinner @ Rouge.

4:10pm. Sidelined by Ross Dress for Less. Intrigued I go in… and nearly turn right around and leave. I don’t deal well with the disorganization of discount department stores. However, just as I turn to go I find the designer dress rack and end up walking out with a Calvin Klein dress for $40. Score. I hide my discount bag in my purse as I am heading to the swanky part of town for dinner.

5pm. Hanging in Rittenhouse Park as the hubs is running late. Watching all the suits getting off work, the nannies at the end of the day, the homeless, the buskers. Again, more good people watching.

5:15pm. Dinner. Score a table at the window looking into the park.

6:30pm. Back to the theatre for the ballet performance.

9:30pm. Retrieve two VERY VERY tired ballerinas.

9:45pm. Hail a cab. Throw ballerinas into taxi. Entertain questions about taxis vs. trolleys.

10:00pm. Home. Throw ballerinas into pajamas and then into bed — in full makeup and hairdo’s. I’ll deal with that tomorrow morning.