Did you ever get to seem like the most fun parent in the world by accident? Well, I did last night and it was lovely. Ken went off to pick up Anoif at her writing camp for the last time this summer. It is in the happening neighborhood of Wicker Park and they have been going out to dinner together. I was beginning to think maybe Mail and I should do the same, or something like it, so I picked him up from a playdate with his friend and whisked him off to a movie, complete with popcorn dinner (okay, we’d eaten a late lunch). When we left the theater we had plans to stroll around a bookstore or library looking for the 11th Naruto comic when what to our amazed visages appeared but a Thursday night street festival in which many vendors and clubs all demonstrated their ukelele, karate and jazz skills to name a few. I watched in awe as my 8 year old strode up to an aikido instructor on his own and introduced himself.  He almost got a snake painted on his arm by the most talented face painter I’d ever seen but that wait seemed to be a half an hour per kid and we had other tasks, like an impromptu shared massage. It was $10 for ten minutes and we decided to split it. You know, because I figured he was tense too from swimming and playing in the sprinkler all day, not to mention all of that arm work he’d been doing with his yo-yo lately.

Okay, so the masseuse kindly gave me a much bigger chunk of the time whispering “He doesn’t really need a whole five minutes.” Thanks most strong and awesome massage lady. Afterwards, a chatty gelato vendor snagged us with samples and a whole bunch a hooha about how much less fat gelato had than regular ice cream. She had us at the samples. So we shared a cup, half chocolate chip and mango peach. All of that strolling and admiring led to some discussions about the upcoming year’s activities and well, a feeling that we were both so lucky and pleased to hang out together.  Even in the movie theater, which was thankfully not too crowded, we spent an unusual amount of time joking around about what was happening on the screen. We’re both movie talkers but the rest of our clan isn’t, so it was a rare opportunity for us.

With Anoif  I’ve had similar fun going on a long bike ride and stopping at every garage sale or otherwise interesting place we come across. The thing that amazes me about those outtings is how different it feels to have just one famly member with you. Focusing on that one person instead of listening to 2 or more people vying for your attention with parlor tricks and trench warfare is a refreshing change of pace that I cannot reccomend highly enough.  Now I’ve got to try this with my husband real soon.