I RESOLVE TO TAKE MORE FAMILY WALKS THROUGH THIS CITY

It has been an unexpected and absolute pleasure to introduce my daughter to the things in my world. It brings me so much joy. That is increasingly what this blog is becoming about, as I’m sure you’ve noticed: my observations of Sloane experiencing the world around her, one sidewalk at a time. I get it now. Why parents go out of their way to take their little ones to zoos and museums and water parks and on travels. Just being able to get front row seats to a child seeing something for the first time, and seeing that lightbulb and connection happen in their brain, or imagining their mind and heart expanding because they have seen an alligator for the first time, or a piece of art, heard a band, or felt the thrill of going down a slide – it is its own kind of reason for living.

There is also the unavoidable fact that the older a child gets, the more that is required to keep them occupied and if you don’t have some sort of caged area at home, boredom is inevitable, which leads to more crankiness. Being in the wide outdoors with a toddler makes so much sense for a parent’s well-being.

We had some friends come down from out of town for a hot second last weekend – it started off with the original intent of throwing some babies in a kiddie pool and somehow evolved into doing things like an art walk and a visit to the river. All the plans didn’t pan out exactly as expected, but unexpected turns is my reality now, where with little ones and extremely humid weather and threats of thunderstorm around every corner and lack of sleep occasionally being an issue. But sweaty as it was, I loved being able to walk some streets. Sloane, this is Richmond’s First Friday’s Art Walk.