I’m the worst when it comes to following through on resolutions. Every year on Jan 1st I decide to get in shape, organize my files, and be a better friend. By the 15th it’s clear I’m not getting any of that done. So this summer, when I determined that this would be The Year of Doing Everything, deep down I wasn’t sure I’d have the stick-to-it-ive-ness to pull it off. Making travel plans, researching activities, securing tickets for events, and rearranging schedules is really time consuming and mind-bending, especially when you’re on a budget and your kids go to different schools and your husband’s work schedule is extremely inflexible. It’s a hell of a lot easier to pass up opportunities than it is to take them on! Despite all that, I know it will be even harder if I have to start making sure all of our accommodations are handicap accessible. So I am proud to say that we are really making this happen for Charley (and for our whole family) NOW.
Nothing exemplifies the commitment this takes more than our first outing to a professional sporting event. In September, I decided to take the kids to the men’s finals of the US Open. Thanks to a generous friend, securing the tickets was easy. For this event, thankfully we didn’t have to stress out about the ticket prices or engage in exhausting mental gymnastics trying to outsmart the other eBay bidders. All I had to do was say yes and we had our seats to this coveted event.
That’s where the easy part ended, though. On the day of the finals, Benjy woke up with a horrid flu. I tried to convince him that he was just stressed and tired but the fever and the chills were real, so we had to leave him behind. To make matters worse, the skies were cloudy (dense gray clouds, not white fluffy ones) and the weatherman was predicting thunderstorms. I was ready to give up and watch the match on TV but Charley insisted that the weather in the Berkshires is “totally different” from the weather in New York and it was probably fine in Queens. And even if it was raining we could bring an umbrella. And watching it on TV is not the same. And you promised.
When Charley gets into his unrelenting mode, it is brutal. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve experienced it. Ask any teacher who has had him the classroom or or even his grandparents who (because they’re his grandparents) are inclined to think he is wonderful and adorable and well behaved. They will all confirm this — when Charley gets stuck on something there is literally no way in hell to get him off it. So we got in the car. I’m sure you know where this is going – after the 3 hour drive, we hung out in the rain at the food court for 90 minutes, eating everything in sight. And the match was called and we had to turn around and drive home.
Call me a sucker but I did wake up the next morning and pile the kids in the car to try again. That’s right, three more hours down to New York City because I wasn’t willing to give up. We had planned to see Federer and Nadal duke it out and I wasn’t going to give up that easily. This time the sun was shining, there was no traffic because it was Monday (yup, I let them miss school), and all I could think was This is the day we were supposed to have. Isn’t it wonderful when you don’t let circumstances get you down and you just get right back on the horse. Not even the fact that I had to piggyback Charley up the steep steps to our seats got me down that day. I was too busy congratulating myself for living up to the old adage “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.”
Toward the end of the first set, when the kids were munching on burgers and I was borrowing my neighbor’s binoculars to scan the crowds for more celebrity sightings, literally out of nowhere the sky became dark. My first thought was “wow it’s already getting dark early” and then I realized it was only 6 pm. I turned my head upward and to my total disbelief a humongous black rain cloud was closing in on us. It came on so fast it was almost unreal. Within minutes the perfect sunny day transformed into a torrential mess. The crowds scrambled for cover and we headed for home.
Believe it or not the kids had a blast, which just goes to prove that any experience can be an adventure. During Take One — after we got soaked huddling under the sunbrella at the food court — a friend invited us to wait it out in a very fancy celebrity-studded suite. I pretended I wasn’t listening while a famous newscaster chit-chatted with an Oscar- winning Best Actress. Charley and Sam stared at NBA star Chris Bosh, then finally got up the gumption to ask him for autographs and a photo op. That experience alone was enough for my boys to justify the 6 hours of car time that first day. During Take Two we got to see some really exciting tennis, even if it was only one set. And of course the kids got to miss school. When they got back home to their friends, those autographs and that photo had my boys floating on air for days.
Knowing it was worth it despite the mishaps has motivated me to keep planning these outings. Next month we are flying all the way across the country for a grand total of two days to see the Clippers play the Lakers and the Celtics, and I couldn’t be more excited for my kids.
Thank you to everyone who has come forward with offers to help us make the most of The Year of Doing Everything. We are loving every minute of it!