Today was a great day. We got our chores done early so we could have a calm afternoon. The weather was perfect, the toddler was happy. I studied from a Modern Physics textbook for fun. Yes, for fun. All seemed well as 4 o’clock drew near, when mom showed up to babysit. That’s when I got to take my wife on a date for the first time since the lockdown started.
On our way to the mall I played the best songs from Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore. I never thought I’d say Taylor Swift wrote the album of the year, but she probably has. It's a refreshing departure from her previous work, overloaded with pop tunes. Cardigan, Exile, and August were the three I played for her; all soft and soothing, with touches of summer nostalgia. August was particularly fitting, considering the month, and that there’s a mall in the lyrics. It was stuck in my head for the rest of the evening, which I can’t complain about.
For all that’s happened this year, the mall hasn’t changed much. People are still standing in long lines to get ice cream. Children are still crowding each other on the jumbo toys. You still have to squeeze your way past people to look at a clothes rack. I got a few shirts. One was a Ride the Lightning (Metallica's second album) muscle-t: very appropriate for a workout. The others were fancier. I think it’s the first time I ever bought a shirt at Nordstroms.
We had dinner outside at P.F. Chang’s, which has some of the best Chinese food in town. The Mongolian Beef hit a home run. We talked about how special it felt to finally spend time alone together, after all the madness of the past few months. And how it felt like one of the many dates in our first year together, when we didn’t have an infant and we were still getting to know each other. Then we realized how fast it went by, how hectic it was getting married, moving twice, traveling to Thailand and dealing with the government, all in our first year. We wished we could have had at least one year together without any life changing events.
Cold Stone was next door, so we had to get ice cream. Their waffle cones are enormous. I got a small scoop and still struggled to eat the whole thing.
We had a scary moment on the way home. The sun was at such a dastardly angle that it made judging the traffic lights difficult. I ended up running a red light. In the other lane, a car had stopped quickly, but the person behind it didn’t stop in time. We heard the screeching tires of an imminent crash as we crossed the intersection. For a split-second, I thought we were the ones that got hit. Incredibly, the person behind us also ran the red light! They must have witnessed the accident, because they rushed past us soon after.
At home we got to play with Dylan and grandma for a bit. We showed her Dylan’s chicken walk, which sparked a lot of laughter. He had a good day too. Not only did he get to spend time with grandma, but he got a toy cooking set that he played with for hours. Then I took him into the guest room so Kairika and grandma could talk. As we were watching Youtube, he figured out how to pause and play by pressing the keyboard. We consider this his first time using a computer! At 21 months it's another quick milestone, among many.
Before bed I had another go at Ulysses by James Joyce. It makes a lot more sense now than it did when I read it 20 years ago. Now I understand why it it’s been praised so highly; there are so many layers of meaning and food for thought. Poetic tangents of stream-of-consciousness. It will probably evolve into one my favorite books. Like the universe, it has aged well.
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