We easily could have had a crap day.
We had a few difficult starts that could have turned us sour.
Like the train station parking.
There wasn’t any.
As it was we couldn’t take our regular line into the city because there were replacement buses at certain stops…
And if you have ever had to take a replacement bus in, you will understand why we never ever want to take a replacement bus EVER AGAIN.
So we tried to jump on another train line.
But every car park was full.
We were on holiday time… but the rest of the world was not.
It was a Friday you see. Business hours applied.
We went to one station, couldn’t find parking, before driving up to the next one trying to get lucky.
We did this at three stations before I said “let’s just drive in.”
I remembered the car park I’d gone to with baby girl when we had our Andy show for the last school holidays.
And we just happened to take the scenic route there.
Boy did it bring back memories.
We were driving along Beach Rd in St Kilda, and I was looking at the palm trees, at the houses facing the water…
AND IT HIT ME.
I remembered going there with Hubbie way before baby girl was around, and how we’d look up at the houses and admire them saying “imagine living here by the beach? Imagine that?”
Well we didn’t live by that beach, but now we lived close to a beach.
All of a sudden our unplanned drive in was becoming a whole lot more.
We arrived at our car parking destination about 2 hours from when we set off. All the pausing and going from one station to the next and then looking for parking had taken ages.
We could have been cranky. We could have been pissed. Instead we stepped out of the old building, so known to us, and went ‘ahhh’ as the humidity of the day hit us and we spied THAT familiar street.
Lygon street. Our old stomping ground.
Oh wow. We were walking and telling baby girl everything. “Mummy and Daddy used to come here all the time… we used to go there… then we would go there… we’ve been there… look that’s changed!”
It was amazing as all the feelings came flooding back. It was a place that at one time in our life we frequented like twice a week… then it changed to once. LOL. We went there so much the trip there was permanently engrained in our minds. The twists and turns of the street, the best parking spots, and who did the best pasta and steak.
(Not necessarily from the pricey side, and if you know Lygon street you know which side of the street that is 😉 )
We stopped to eat lunch at a place we had before, and looking up and down at the greenery on either side of us, I grew misty-eyed.
I had a revelation.
I even said it aloud: “I could see myself living here.”
Hubbe was shocked. It was a big thing for me to say that. Me, SmikG, so rapt with the beachside that I couldn’t imagine anywhere else.
I clarified… “I love where we live… but one day, maybe in 20 years, I could imagine living here.”
The memories. Oh the MEMORIES! Even sitting at that table, I was reminded that we had sat at that very café and at that very table and had a coffee, right before going on a little trip together pre-baby girl… I reminded Hubbie and he said “Yes, I remember!”
“Where were we going again?”
After throwing out some names which weren’t right, he said it was at a spot on the Peninsula.
FACE PALM. Where we live NOW.
The symmetry was freaking me out.
Lygon Street made me feel right at home. From the bear-shaped pizza for baby girl and the handmade gnocchi for me that melted in my mouth, I was in heaven. I’ve always said I was Italian in another life. I am more than confident of it after today.
We shared a coffee after our tram trek into the city-centre, where I had the most delicious and iconic Melbourne themed chocolate…
Before we went to where we had planned to all along.
A children’s theatre show.
It was Room on the Broom, a production based off the iconic Australian children’s book. It was a present to baby girl for Christmas after we saw how enthralled in the book she was last year… and so that was the point of our whole trek in.
We did so much before that to get there, and it had been an adventure.
The show in itself was another great adventure.
But then like so many times before, shit hit the fan.
Baby girl wanted merchandise. A tiny $40 stuffed toy witch, or a $25 stuffed toy cat.
I shouldn’t even mention the money. The money doesn’t matter. It was the principle.
She has LOADS of stuffed toys. Do you think she plays with them?
Noooooooooooooooooooooo.
She started the hysterics. The tantrum built. Cries and shrieks. “No I want it!” Stamping of the foot. It is almost hilarious if it ISN’T happening to you.
We’d done so much to get there. Spent so much. Travelled so far.
And now THIS.
I looked outside the open doors as she cried behind us. People crowded through the foyer, some looking over and others dealing with their own demanding brood.
I could see it – gone was the humidity that had enveloped me during my delicious Pomodoro gnocchi as I sweated it out at 1pm…
Because now at 4pm, it was windy and raining and people were getting drenched outside.
I put my foot down figuratively, told her “NO!” and stomped outside.
And instead of –
“But how the witch wailed
And how the cat spat
When the wind blew so widely
It blew off the hat.” –
It was –
“How baby girl wailed
And how her Mum spat
As the wind blew so widely
and her Mum yelled ‘that’s that!'”
LOL.
She cried as we pulled her along through the rain, pelting down on us as we ran towards our tram stop.
“You don’t need another stuffed toy!”
“Yes I do!”
“No you don’t!”
“Yes I do!”
“No you don’t!”
And as we ran, our feet sploshing through puddles and water sinking through our sandals, our arguing turned into banter, and the water on her face was suddenly from the rain, not her tears, as baby girl started to laugh.
“Yes I do!”
We got some much appreciated shelter from a woman holding an umbrella as we waited to cross the road, and within moments, all was well again.
The wild weather could have thrown us off.
The tantrum, the crying and yelling could have put us in a real sour mood.
But it didn’t.
And all of a sudden, we were full circle in our feelings again. 🙂
It was one of those weird days where it was a little bit of everything, but mostly a lot of fun and crazy.
We didn’t let anything unexpected throw us off our main task of having fun, whether it was a long drive, no parking, wild weather or a demanding 6 year old…
Our task was to make memories, with the added bonus of reminiscing past memories.
It was a happy day. ♥
carcrashgratitude 