Flexibility

As Aaron said in the last post this was his first week off after ending the first half of the year at FGV. We were all very much looking forward to this time. He has not had a true break (longer than a week) since beginning grad school in August of 2011. All in all, we've had a great week as a family. However, there have been numerous episodes serving for us all to exercise our flexibility muscles.

Number One:
We were headed to the Catavento Museum when we stopped to air up our stroller tires.  (This was already our second attempt at going to the museum. We'd tried to go a few months ago and got lost in down town. After walking for literally 2 hours, we found the museum, but decided not to go inside as it was lunch time and everybody was exhausted!) Back to the story -  The well meaning man who was helping us with our tires, did great on the first two tires. On the third, he put to much air in it and the it busted. It was no small feat to get the tire repaired as the stroller is not common here in Brazil. We walked and walked all morning with recommendations of stores that could make the repair. The round trip was likely over two mile. The boys were excellent and walked the whole way. It wasn't until the next day that we were able to find a bicycle store that sold the tube we were looking for.

Number Two:
My amazing husband suggested that I take a day to myself on Wednesday this week. Of course I didn't think twice. I had a wonderful time alone and got to spend sweet afternoon with my friend Erin (momma of 4 with one on the way....needs far more alone time than I do :) I was headed home on the subway. When I stood up to get off my cell phone fell and wedged perfectly in between the seats. There was no getting it out. I continued on the subway until the end of the line (Barra Funda) with a lady trying to help me remove it. No such luck. At the end of the line I informed one of the subway employees about my trapped phone. I was assured it would be recovered and returned to that station later that evening. It was suggested I return to pick it up the next day. Which is what I did. Thursday, I waited 45 minutes as they looked for my phone only to be told my phone was on the opposite end of the red train line (about an hour subway commute). Once again, I got back on the train to head across the city to retrieve the phone. Midway through the ride at a station in downtown, the train stops and turns off. No one was allowed off the train, no one was allowed on the train. I sat inside the train watching the subway police escort back the thousands (literally) of people who were waiting to get one the train. They paced the train and talked on their radios. The passengers inside the train began to panic as it was getting hot inside. I wasn't freaking out at this point, but many were. The banged on windows trying to communicate to the police. "It's hot in here." "We're going to die"...My biggest concern at this point was that I had no way to call home to tell Aaron I was stuck in a crisis underground with thousands of others. Finally the train doors opened. I was overwhelmed with the masses of people. I feared some would panic and start to run and people would literally get trampled. Never mind that cell phone. I'm getting as far away from this mess as quickly as possible. Luckily it was a station that had a transfer train to the one that would take me home. So Friday morning (now day 3 of the cell phone hunt) I along with my little companion, Austin, headed to the Eastern end of the read line (Itaquera) to pick up my phone. In 15 minutes, my phone was in hand. Austin takes the credit saying he found it. I'm OK with that. Afterall - I didn't have any luck doing it on my own in the previous 56 hours!

Number Three:
This one was the kicker. We had tickets purchased to my grandmothers house in the country side of Brazil for this morning at 10:20AM. The boys have been asking to go there for nearly three weeks now, since my parents left to go there. Everyone was well rested and excited. We left the house at 8:45am with a ride from a sweet friend to the subway station. The subway got us there in less than 30 minutes. We were there at 9:20am and were the first in line for the bus. After waiting an hour, we hand our tickets to the driver and he asks to see the boys IDs. BOYS IDs?!?!?! They are two and three - what? My mind races - we've boarded domestic flights in the US without showing any ID for the boys. We've taken buses across state lines without showing ID for us and them. There must be a way around this. "Momma, why aren't we getting on the bus?" Austin questions.  "Hang on buddy, we need to be patient". We talked to three different employees.  No one budged. Really? Really? There's no boarding without an ID for all passengers (even toddlers that aren't ticket holders). So sadly we had to turn around and come back home. There were tears involved  as we explained that we didn't have the papers needed to board the bus and would have to try again tomorrow. "No, I don't want to go back to our house, I want to sleep at Bisa's (great gramma's) house."

So all in all, we had a PLETHORA of opportunities to encourage ourselves  the boys to be patient and flexible. I felt like a broken record this week as I said, "Things don't always turn out as we planned." to myself the boys! But one things for sure - good attitudes makes all the difference. If momma and daddy are frustrated, flustered, impatient, not flexible - we get that mirrored back to us in a cruel way! So here's to a really buff flexibility muscle!