Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend, even though it didn't go according to plan.

Friday night we drove out to Media to visit our friends Katy, Andrew, Deb, and Antoine.  We had fun brainstorming over cheese, wine, and other snacks.  It was a productive night and I look forward to the next steps that will come from that meeting.  The only downside was Jeannie's prediction came true: we'd get home so late that we'd be tired and sleep in on Saturday, causing us to cancel or postpone our plans to take a road trip South.

As such, most of Saturday was a day of rest.  I can't even say that I remember what we did, except that we stayed in the house for most of the day.  If I recall correctly, I folded some laundry that had been in the dryer for a day or two, and I did some reading.  But then some time in the late afternoon, around 5pm I wanna say, I suggested to Jeannie that we take a walk.  She agreed, so we packed-up Seva and we headed out.  The weather was exceptionally cool for this time of year; I just heard that the high temperature yesterday was only 77 degrees.

Our first destination was the Wine & Spirits store on Market Street.  After taking our last bottle of red wine to Katy and Andrew's place, I thought we needed to restock.  We got three bottles: two bottles of malbec and one bottle of tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain.  Right before we got there, though, I saw a couple of men standing in the middle of the sidewalk and looking at a map.  Once we were near them, I spoke up and asked them if they needed directions.  They asked in which direction was the river, to which I replied: "which one?  The Schuylkill is that way (pointing west down Market Street), and the Delaware is that way (pointing back east on Market)."  After chatting with them for a couple minutes while walking west, we found out that they were a couple guys from Australia, probably in their 50s, looking to head back to their hotel after they'd gotten a drink or two at a bar.  They said that they were in town for a combination of business and pleasure, and that they needed to get ready for dinner.  I was happy to have pointed them in the right direction.  Hopefully they enjoyed the rest of their time in the 215.

After getting our wine, we walked around somewhat aimlessly for a while, looking for a place to get a sweet snack.  I won't even go through the progression of places that we considered and/or actually went to.  I'll skip to the point that we finally decided to go to Miel, on 17th Street, where we each got a chocolate cube dessert, which we ate at a table on the sidewalk.  We noticed a lot of people wearing lanyards, indicating that they were very likely in town for some sort of convention.  I commented to Jeannie how so many people walk in public without making any eye contact at all with anyone else, as if everyone is scared to interact with a stranger.  While sitting there, I on the other hand looked at everyone who walked by; perhaps this was easier and less potentially intimidating to others since I had Seva standing with my assistance on my lap for most of the time.  Anyway, we had a nice time sitting there for a while, enjoying the cool, comfortable weather that I already mentioned.

Due in great part to that great weather, as well as a feeling (for myself at least) of being out of the house and enjoying it, I suggested to Jeannie that we continue our walk by getting burgers at 500 Degrees.  Jeannie agreed, so we walked over to the 1500 block of Sansom.  We each got a burger, and Jeannie got a side of truffle fries, which we split.  Again we sat at a table on the sidewalk.  After eating I went in to wash my greasy hands and when I came out, there was a guy sitting at another table next to ours.  He was asking Jeannie, then me, for advice on whether he could take a 19 year-old girl into Rumor.  I gave some advice to him as best as I could.  And we chatted for a few minutes.  He said he was from the Congo.  I asked him: "Kinshasa?" to which he said "no," so I immediately smiled and said, "Brazzaville?" to which he was very impressed.  He said that he was in Philadelphia for the first time, visiting for a short period to practice his English (which was pretty good, other than an accent).  He said that he was living in Paris, which was common practice for Africans who want to create a better resume for themselves and thus open up better job opportunities for when they return to the Congo.  At the end of our short talk, I gave him my personal business card.  I enjoyed our short, impromptu meeting.

On our walk home, we stopped through Rittenhouse Square, where we saw a gathering at the main entrance to the park, at the corner of 18th & Walnut Streets.  There we saw a recognizable Philly street singer singing to a small crowd.  We walked up to join everyone and listen in for a few songs.  At the end of one song, the singer announced to the crowd that, in addition to being a singer, he was also a psychic.  He approached a woman in the crowd and asked if her name was Patricia; she nodded yes.  She was standing next to her boyfriend.  Then, the singer began singing a happy song (which I didn't recognize, but Jeannie did).  I forget how they got there, but the girl and her boyfriend ended up listening to the song from a more prominent position in front of the singer.  Then, about halfway through the song, the boyfriend stepped away from the girl, reached his hand into his pocket, pulled out a ring, dropped to one knee and proposed to her.  The singer stopped singing, while the music kept going, but pretty low.  The girl indicated that she said yes and the crowd cheered!  In honor of the couple, the singer immediately began singing Etta James' famous song, "At Last."  It was a very touching and authentic moment.  I saw some women wiping tears away from their eyes.  It was great to be there to see and experience all that.

Shortly after getting home, Jeannie changed Seva's diaper.  I was downstairs.  Seva must have been revved up and excited, because as Jeannie was changing her, Jeannie was asking questions about our walk, to which Seva answered by just yelling pretty loudly for her little body.  It was hilarious.  After a couple minutes of this, I came upstairs to capture it on video, but I only caught the very tail-end of it.  It was funny, though, hearing Seva really test her lungs and assert herself.  Jeannie and I were both laughing.

Finally, Jeannie and I slept in this morning.  It was another cool day and another day of rest.  We watched the movie "Coach Carter" on tv.  Then later in the afternoon, while still sitting on the couch, while Jeannie was holding Seva, I started to play with Seva, mainly by rubbing my head into Seva's hands and her belly and chest.  Seva started laughing!  It was such a funny and beautiful moment.  We really had fun.  It was one of those moments where we were all together as a family and just enjoying being together.

So I guess you could say that, although the weekend didn't go exactly according to plan, it was a great weekend, and for that I thank God.