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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Small girl, big city

So, today I took my very first train ride AND went to center city Philadelphia for the very first time as well. What an experience. The regulars must have known I was a completely frightened tourist. Every time I got on a train, they asked for my ID. They didn't do that for the others I was traveling with. Just me. Of course, I do look like a person likely to be hiding something (and if you know me at all, you know this couldn't be farther from the truth)! I am the world's worst liar. I had a hard time this past Christmas explaining Santa to my 4-year-old. I could sense he wasn't buying the whole story. But when my husband explained it, he was satisfied. Even children see right through me...I'm just that transparent and naive. So, the big city of Philadelphia was actually pretty cool. I lived in the suburbs of Philly for 2 years when Doug and I were first married and I never once went into the city. I generally don't like to go to places where there are large crowds of people. This makes me very nervous. But I see this year as a year to overcome my fears (ahem...I mean some of my fears. I definitely will NOT be boarding any roller coasters this year, or even before I die). I felt so small in that big city. Of course, I am about the size of a 12-year-old, but I normally don't feel that small. Everything was just so big. The buildings, the people, the crazy drivers... And they could so tell I was a tourist. I even got stuck in one of those revolving glass doors. My bag got jammed and the whole thing stopped. I felt like I was in the middle of one of those VISA commercials where everyone is swiping their cards and the whole process just goes so smoothly until that 1 idiot pulls out his checkbook. That was me today. The idiot. I didn't mind. I'm used to feeling like that. I do stupid things like that all the time. It's just me...

The fun part about today was that I got to come home a little early. Of course, in order to do that, I was up at 4 in order to catch the 6:30 train to Philly. So I got to play with my kids a little bit and get some of our Disney plans in place. All in all, it was a very productive and exciting day. It was also a learning experience, as I find most days lately are. I learned that you really can't fit 2 people into 1 section of a revolving door. I also learned that a little extra QT with your kids can do your soul some good.