a guest in my daughter's world

sunrise:  7:17           blog time remaining:  11 sunrises
Denver, CO

I took the free shuttle up the 16th St. mall, stopping along the way to buy a quart of milk at Walgreen’s, and met A. outside her apartment with her foster dog, Burt. They joined me on my sunrise walk this morning – or rather, I joined them on their usual walking tour.

It is so nice to spend time in my daughter’s neighborhood, see where she has been living since August, meet her roommates, get a sense of the setting of her life. I always like to be able to picture someone in their space – their home, their street, their daily commutes. This area of Denver is really charming, though maybe “a little too touristy,” A says. I am particularly appreciative of so much street art. Small details, like construction fences woven with flowers, and large space parks and sculptures and murals.

My favorite feature of the long pedestrian mall between our hotel and A’s apartment is the pianos. Five or six of them are placed a block or two apart, painted in whimsical styles, and any passerby is free to sit down and play! Many of them were in use as we passed – jazz, improvised pop, Beatles music. It was so cool.

How strange to think about these four people who filled my waking hours, and many of my sleeping hours, for so many years, off in worlds so separate now from my own. In many ways they have always opened my eyes to new worlds, from their tiny developing infancy through adolescence. Now they are still opening new worlds of exploration and travel and perspective to me, far beyond the home front.

It has been a long time since we were all in one place. When they appeared, all four of them, walking towards me from the bus yesterday, I could not have kept the smile from my face for anything. I love them as four independent satellites, orbiting each in their own paths and sending reports back home. But I will also always love to see them all together in their original little clan, sharing reports of their respective travels and reconnecting with the mother ship.