Bye Bye Baltimore

Ir’s a sad day….our last day in Baltimore.  Arose early to take my nearly two year old grandson, Kevin, to day care.  Our last trip together on the highway to talk about “big trucks,” “green dump trucks,” “car carriers” and “tanker trucks.”  How is it that boys are so fascinated by these things?

Next, I picked up his mommy and little brother to meet his uncle and soon to be aunt at the Southside Diner for a yummy breakfast…and I don’t even like breakfast!  How fun to just have the luxury of eating and talking with them and holding my biracial month old grandson who looks all Irish with big, blue eyes.  Just like Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get!”

Last night, BH and I and some of our combined families met for an early dinner at Nick’s Fish House on the water….long picnic tables in an outdoor setting that easily accommodated our 11 adults and 7 children.  Carrying on a conversation with 7 children under the of 7 was challenging, to say the least!  But, we’ve all been there.  We don’t get to really talk with each other….like BH’s daughter remarked, “It’s parallel play” as we mostly run around chasing the kids on the docks and knocking down an occasional sip of beer and noshing on the run.  But, God knows, I love being there with them.

We’ve toasted the town…BH much more than me as I broke my toe the first day here and found out I’m pretty much out of luck for six weeks.  But, while I can’t walk for miles and miles which BH loves to do (and I don’t), we’ve done our share.  We’re only two blocks from the famous Inner Harbor and have explored the National Aquarium, dined at Amicci’s in Little Italy and taken in multiple Orioles games and even did the Camden Yards tour.  The best part?  Sitting in the dugout and catching a glimpse of those luxurious club seats.

Okay…I’m not going to miss this dingy townhouse and I’m not going to miss walking a few blocks away and passing a drunk or two passed out on the sidewalk.  When I was much younger, I lived and worked in a city…not as large as Baltimore but with the same urban issues…and I never felt fear.  Of course, i don’t live with much fear to begin with but I was off the charts naive.  And, now, forty years later, I actually felt vulnerable.  I don’t have the moxie aka balls I had then.  I walked alone like I owned the street.  If anyone confronted me, I confronted them right back!  I look back on that and think ‘what was I thinking?’  Somehow, I survived it all.

Living closer to my children and grandchildren has given me pause.  Yes, I love our life in Florida and when we’re in Maryland, we’re not terribly far from the city.  But, truth be told, I really miss them being in my daily life.  However, they are all adults now, living the lives they’re supposed to be living and I imagine I’m living the life I’m supposed to be living.

I’m going to miss my girl that I’ve seen everyday for the past three weeks.  When I took her home this morning, I swear I caught a tear in her eye….matching the tear in mine.