I (we) Would Drive 500 Miles

Three years after we left, we went back to DC to celebrate BBB#6 (the annual birthday celebration for the kids whose moms we met through the Breastfeeding Center of Greater Washington).


Twelve hours door-to-door each way, and the kids did great! They loved the idea of going as much as the reality of the trip.


A few highlights:

• We stumbled upon a lovely Italian restaurant in Williamsport, DiSalvos. It looked way to nice for our demographics, but it's courtyard and homemade pasta turned out to be perfect. The kids did great, entertained themselves, behaved, ate well.


• Samuel asked about who his friends were and who we were going to see. "I can't wait to see my best friend E, I miss E so much, I love my best friend E, what does E look like?". We met up with E and his dad for lunch, I think we overwhelmed them with Matthew and Samuel's non-stop activity while the 3 boys shared a booth for lunch. Matthew referred to E's dad as "E's Dad" the whole day. It later evolved to a variation of him real name and finally on the last day Matthew got his name right.


• We went to the zoo, not thwarted by the forecast of thunderstorms, we took no raincoats (they stayed in the hotel) and no umbrella's (those were in the car) and no extra shoes for the kids (those were at home). We saw elephants, sloth bears, red pandas, and a panda. Matthew was in heaven. The panda was serendipity, we were inside the panda building due to the rain but there was no panda to be seen, were about to leave as the rain subsided, and another zoo visitor called us back because the panda had come out. He, or she, just lay there, moving an arm once in a while. But that was enough.


• We connected with many friends (but not all, so if we missed you we'll get you next time we come).


• Matthew, Samuel and Renee ate copious amounts of food at our friends S, L and F's house. It was lovely to see them and reminisce about our days of eating fish tacos.


• We had a great time at BBB#6. Samuel re-integrated with his friends, who he likely didn't remember, and had a great time. Matthew went for the calls right away and played non-stop. And somewhat uncharacteristically, Renee didn't cling to me. I loved seeing Matthew and Renee play with the kids who were babies or hadn't been born when we left.


• The building museum still rocks, although now you have to pay and they are much stricter about when you can go and how long you can stay in the building zone. Their lego exhibit was great, the buildings were amazing and the vast vats of legos for the kids, and adults, to build with was great.


• Samuel cried, tears and all, when we crossed the border on the way home. "I miss my friends so much already, why can't we live in Washington".

Seeing our friends was great. In some ways, it was as though we had never left, and picked up the friendships right were we left them. But there are a lot more kids than there used to be, and so many we had never met. And I got to celebrate my birthday with the most harmonious singing of happy birthday that any restaurant has ever heard. Having MNO with the MilkMoms was like coming home. I will be forever grateful to the Breastfeeding Center, for the influence it had on nursing my kids, on my parenting style, and on the seed of friendship it planted all those years ago.