Time with Treasures

Weeks ago, a friend from my first high school invited me to a birthday party. It was to be a white elephant party on a Saturday afternoon. I thought about whether I should attend, after all I was going to have to drive all the way back to my old neighborhood. After much contemplation, I put in my RSVP that I would be there. As party time got closer, I got pretty excited about seeing my old house, the area where I grew up and catching up with my old pal. Earlier this week, I decided to take my oldest with me to the party so she could share my trip down memory lane.
This morning, I got up and noticed that my hair looked totally incredible. I took it as a sign! You know, when you get together with people who knew you in your prime, you want to look good. I probably changed clothes 10 times, but finally felt like I looked as cute as possible. And my hair - it looked just wonderful!  I wrapped my white elephant gift and the package looked beautiful! Even if the gift was weird, it looked great. Finally ready, I announced to the oldest that she was coming with me, expecting push back. She said, "wonderful, can I drive?"
We hopped into the Pearl and headed off to the other side of the city.  Listening to her music, we talked about why she liked specific songs. We discussed Kyle leaving Breathe Carolina and that it's probably because David Schmitt is such a tool. Suddenly my sweet girl noticed that we were very near the Gluten Free bakery. "Do you want me to stop?"
We laughed and laughed at the terrible parking job that Sweet Girl did in front of the bakery. The last time we were there she parked badly so we debated if there was some sort of curse on the parking lot. She just said she wanted to get me real close to the door. Into the bakery we headed, I tried almost every sample that they offered. Sweet Girl, who can eat gluten all she wants, tried the samples with me. She advised against the pumpkin bread, praised the cookies and egged me on about the cupcakes. We chatted with the lady about Apple and how Sweet Girl loves Apple stuff.
Our next stop was the Race Trac to get drinks to go with our brownie. Sweet Girl charmed the guy behind the counter so much that he forgot to charge us for her apple juice. We giggled about that in the car as she pulled back into traffic.
As we passed into my old stomping grounds, I started pointing out places to my daughter. She smiled and said, "I know" so many times that I finally asked if she had heard this before. She grinned and said, "oh no Mom. I have never heard that you went to church there."
We got to my friend's party. We could hear sirens in the distance, but neither of us thought anything about that. As we walked into the house, a girl we didn't know asked if we'd parked in the driveway because she didn't want us to block the ambulance. Apparently, an earlier arrival had fallen down the stairs and was injured. Sweet Girl roamed the group with me. We chatted with my friends Dad about cats and dogs. We met a librarian from an alternative school. We talked to a mom and her daughter who was near Sweet Girl's age.  After the EMTs left, Sweet Girl patiently let me re-introduce her to my friend. While my friend opened her presents, my baby snuggled into a small chair with me.
Once we left, Sweet Girl seemed really quiet. I wasn't concerned, but I noticed it was different. As we drove around to look at places from my childhood, she started asking me questions. Not just easy questions, tough ones, questions that had complicated, controversial answers. For the entire hour plus ride, she asked me things and we talked about things that were deep and complex.
Home at last, she informed me she had a headache and was heading to bed. I was a little sad that our time together had come to this abrupt end. I decided to take a nap too. When I got to my bedroom, Sweet Girl was snuggling into my bed. As we napped, she reached over several times to touch my arm. After hubby arrived at home, we delivered the other daughter to her sleepover and went to pick up our dinner. As we sat in the car waiting for the our Chinese to be ready, Sweet Girl climbed into the front seat and snuggled with me. Hubby looked over and raised his eyebrows. This was not typical of my girl!
Our evening actually wrapped up as we watched "Sixteen Candles" together. After the day we had, it was a great way to end it. When I woke up this morning, I thought the highlight was going to be seeing an old friend. I am so thrilled with the actual highlight that I got instead.