The Taj Econolodge

Well, so much for my second post being "tomorrow," that would have been around 4 days ago. But as I sit here trying to compose my next offering, someone is yattering in my face a very long story about how Dora's going to save the Crystal Kingdom. At the same time she's telling me about Dora (because I sooooo want to know all about it, so so so badly), she's simultaneously erecting a makeshift ice-cream stand and needs me to make a purchase. She's a hard sell, that one.

And while all this is going on in Gracie's world, Calvin has somehow made his high chair walk a few feet away from the breakfast table over to me and my laptop and is yank yank yanking on my shirt sleeve, telling me, in very insistent tones, "I duck! Open!!!" (Good talking, Cal! Nice request!) Which means, of course, that he is in fact stuck (not a duck), and that I should please open the belt and release him from his incarceration even though he's eaten absolutely none of his breakfast. The child is living on diluted fruit juice, corn chips, and gluten-free pretzels, what am I going to do with him?!? (That's not a rhetorical question...anyone with children on the autism spectrum who are finding any success with their self-limiting eaters, feel free to PLEASE TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!)

Ok, anyway, that's just by way of telling you why "tomorrow's" post never came, and that it had nothing whatsoever to do with any images you might have conjured in your macabre imaginations of me passed out on the kitchen floor with a smile on my face and a half-empty jug of Tylenol-with-codeine in my hand. Nothing of the sort. Besides, I checked, that stuff's expired, could be dangerous, not messing with it.

So on to today's topic. It was going to be all about my history as an eating disordered maniac...and don't panic, I've still got the draft. But that subject is being tabled for now, because I have to tell you about our little family minitrip this past weekend.

Firstly, we shouldn't be taking any trips anywhere, because any trip at all, even a cute little (mini, wee, teensy) 200-mile road trip like the one we just took requires a little bit of cash. And at the risk of taunting the law of attraction into bankrupting me forever (oooh, I'm so scared, like I haven't stared that demon in the face before...ok, so I am totally scared, the sarcasm was fake...I find I just can't lie to you...), I'll say it, we ain't got a little bit of cash right now to be throwing wildly around on luxuries like a 2-night stay at an Econolodge in Ithaca, New York. And don't think I can't see you shaking your heads at my exhibiting the kind of wasteful, irresponsible extravagance that has already brought our nation's economy to its knees. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

But the thing is, it was a few months ago, when circumstances weren't looking so godawfully bleak and hopeless yet, that I'd been surfing the internet and found out that singer/songwriter Laurie Berkner would be performing at the State Theater in Ithaca, and that it would be a whopping 40 bucks to purchase tickets for Gracie and myself (15 for the kid, 25 for me). I should probably take a second to explain how Grace feels about Laurie Berkner...let's just say that I feel a certain way about an artist named Tori Amos, Goddess of my Life and Sister of my Heart, and that Grace seems to have a similar affinity for her Laurie as I do for my Tori. That said, I talked to the husband about it. Both he and I have an Ithaca history, Cornell for me, Ithaca College for him, and wouldn't it be nice to do a little weekend trip there, show the kids where we went to college, stay at a cheap motel, beautiful fall weekend, sure, why not, and a few clicks later I had two tickets in the orchestra section.

We settled on just Grace and I doing the concert because we're pretty sure that Calvin would have more fun hanging out with his dad and looking for a good old kegger in a good old college town. (KIDDING, I know he's only 3...although if his first complete sentence turns out to be "Daddy and I are looking for a kegger," I guess I only have myself to blame, what else is new.) Last time we tried to take Cal to a movie, the theater's sound system made him shake like jello on a trampoline and do everything in his power to claw his way over my body and out of the building. His first big show will come too, I'm thinking maybe Thomas or Diego, but for now it was girls to the concert, boys on their own. Plus, the theater is located on Ithaca Commons, which was also the site this past weekend for their awesome Apple Harvest Festival...not a bad weekend to bum around town.

[Just because I really feel like we're so close that I can't keep anything from you, I want to let you know that I just had to interrupt my posting to run across the room and save my son's life. Something in his mouth, no gum or chewing tobacco in the house that I'm aware of, God knows he won't eat anything this morning so I doubted it was food...turned out to be the rubber tire off a toy vehicle, just the right size to block a windpipe. As my pulse rate returns to normal and I type with one hand for the time it takes for feeling to return to the finger that I almost just lost to my 3-year-old's voracious maw, anyone out there with children on the autism spectrum who incessantly mouth everything they can get their hands on, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE COPING WITH THIS!!!!!!!!]

Ok, so fast forward to the week before the trip. Money is scarce, and Grace has decided to come down with a whopper of a head cold, plenty of fever, a few trips to the doctor to assure me that she was strep-free, pneumonia-free, flu-free, just a mean old cold virus. I'd put off telling her about the Laurie Berkner concert until just about the day before take-off, but once she found out, every time I approached her with the thermometer to stick in her ear she'd look up at me in horror and cry out, pathetically, between coughs and honks and snot sputters, "Please let me go see Laurie Berkner even though I'm sick!" What's a mother to do? I repeat, no strep, no pneumonia, no flu...so of course, we loaded the car and off we went.

This was our first hotel experience with the kids. Well, as far as Grace was concerned, we weren't at no stinkin' Econolodge. It was the Waldorf.

"What's dat fing, Mommy?"

"That's an ice machine, honey, look, the ice comes out and you put it in a bucket to keep your soda cold."

"Wow!!!!!!!!"

Eyes wide with wonder and utter delight. And we went through the same ecstatic revelation for every little thing from the tiny soaps (they floated!) and shampoo bottles that we could even take home (GASP!), to the extra surprise pillow hiding in one of the dresser drawers, to the funky hair dryer with the magically retractable cord in the bathroom. I'll tell you, people, through my daughter's eyes, I've never stayed anywhere nicer. With Gracie by my side, the critics can write up however many stars they want, we know the real deal. And we hadn't even gotten to the concert yet.

But when we did, holy smokes. First of all, I somehow ended up with front-row-center seats. And that's just ridiculous. Sure I went online the second the pre-sale started, password in hand (rocketship!), but in my past experience that didn't necessarily mean you'd even get a seat, let alone end up in the front row. Remember when Tori Amos played the Hammerstein Ballroom? Yeah, well I do, pre-sale, schmee-sale, ended up going through a broker, landed in the back row, and I choose not to remember what I paid. Let's just say those tickets were not $40 for a pair. But I digress (who me?), sorry. Back to my story, I find our seats, shocked to be front-row-center, me with my cup of lobby coffee, Grace with her lobby juice box, the two of us sharing a chocolate-frosted donut...and all the time I'm thinking, great, this is where she thinks we'll always get to sit when we see a show.

So once we were sitting there a little while, my, how the excitement did build. I mean, come on, we were 2 feet from the stage! (And I must say I wasn't prepared for that area turning into a baby mosh pit, what the...) The set back-drop was a mural that incorporated images from lots of Laurie's songs (Look, that's the shady tree...there's the moon moon moon with the light switch....etc., etc....). And of course the instruments were right up there for all to see.

"Mommy," she whispered reverently, "Is that Laurie's...ti-gar?"

It was TOTALLY Laurie's ti-gar.

Wiggling back and forth in our seats, "I'm so excited, I'm so excited, she's gonna come out, she's gonna come out!"

And then she came out, and here's where without a visual, how can I tell you what it was like? Here goes. There was a light that came out of the face next to me, and if I could have found a way to somehow catch that in a bottle I'm sure it would easily power and warm all your homes all this winter. One of Laurie Berkner's songs goes,

I went out today and I saw the sun shine,
shining out its light,
yes I saw the sun shine,
I went out today and I saw the sun shine,
I'm just like the sun.

Holding hands with my girl while those opening strains rang out over us in the front row, Grace watching Laurie, me watching Grace, I felt just like the sun.

Worth every penny.