My youngest sister is a teacher, and last week she was on Spring Break. Each day she posted how she had chosen to use the day and everyone sounded envious of all the fun she was having. She came to visit us and rather than get some much needed work done on our Mother’s things, we vegged out on Friday. I know I’ll regret that, but it was really nice to be a sloth, and visit and chat and snooze and eat. It turns out we were charging up for Saturday.
Saturday morning we met our oldest sister and we spent the day shopping in a four by three block area of Naperville. It started with dropping off knives to be sharpened, then we browsed our way through Penzy’s Spices, Barnes and Noble, a new tea shop, and a boutique before walking back to have lunch at Hugo’s Frog Bar. Luckily the cars were just across the street, so we left the morning’s round of purchases in the cars before going to lunch.
Lunch was to die for! Our waiter was perfect. He had the answers to a multitude of questions and was present when needed, otherwise unobtrusive. We ordered fish tacos, seared scallops and a jumbo lump crab cake, and all three of us were totally happy with the meal. I enjoyed it so much that I told Dear Husband that we needed to plan a lunch-time visit so that he could enjoy it too. (I had the crabcake!) (With a heavenly remoulade)
We had a loose list of other shops to visit. Sur La Table was right next door, so we started there. I bought an immersion blender that I had been coveting for some time. Chico’s was next, followed by Eddie Bauer. Since we were right there, we paused for tea at Starbuck’s, and stopped at Anderson’s Book Store as we worked our way back toward the cars. The list doesn’t seem terribly long, but we spent SEVEN HOURS together. I was absolutely astonished. I don’t think I have ever shopped that long before, but the company was so totally entertaining that I never realized how much time had passed.
While we sat at Starbuck’s my techie little sister took out her phone so that we could make a list of what we needed for Easter, and had the menu planned in no time flat. We thought of one more of Mother’s quirky sayings, and that went into the phone, too! And while we were in Sur La Table, she opened an app to try to find out what music they were playing. Those phones are scary, ya know?!
I hated having to say goodbye to our oldest sister. I think Saturday may go down as one of the best days I’ve ever had. My youngest sister stayed a second night with us, but by morning, she was thinking about all she needed to get done before school resumed today, and she was on the road before 11:00. We are a family that worries, so she called as she got to the outskirts of her home town, to let us know that the trip had gone well.
Both my sisters and their families will join my family for Easter. We are all conscious of needing to store up memories. We can only hope that Easter Sunday will be as wonderful a day as Saturday was. Perhaps we will be able to share that wonderful sense of community with our children and grandchildren.