Home Sweet Home

At some point during the day on Sunday, I turned to Baroy and said, "350 thousand, 350 million...Right now, I would say anything we paid for this house is worth it."

What made me so contented and appreciative? It wasn't much, really. It was a horribly hot day, and early on, Em asked me if we could go get a kiddie pool so she and N could splash in the backyard. Big Lots had a HUGE one on sale, 10 feet across, so I decided to go for it, just to make what will no doubt be a hot summer a bit less miserable. (No AC in this I'd-pay-anything-for-it house...)

When we got home, Em invited her friend Grey over, and we blew up and filled up the pool. The splashing of Gray, Em and N immediately attracted the two boys next door, and so I invited them to join in. Their peals of laughter attracted another boy from across the street, so he jumped in as well. Those six kids played in that pool from about 1 until I literally dragged them out of there at 5 pm. (Well, to be honest, N had a bad cold, and he was the youngest by a couple of years, so he didn't spend the entire time in there. But the rest of them did.) We had a quick, early dinner, and then Emily got on her scooter, Noah got on his bike, and they went up and down the street (it's a deadend that's a full two blocks away from the first real cross street with traffic, and so about as safe as they come) for a good hour while I chatted with various moms, all people I enjoy spending time with. I gave up a lot of things that I thought were really important to me to live in this house, on this block, but yesterday, I couldn't have named a single one of them if you'd have paid me.
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Yesterday was the perfect complement to Saturday, when I spent a fabulous day at the LA Times Festival of Books, which altogether made for a near-perfect weekend. Tamar already put together a word picture that I won't attempt to mimic here, but it was a really fun day--I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. Well, actually, maybe during the sucky Creative Nonfiction panel. Snore. But other than that, I was either laughing or smiling or practically jumping out of my skin with the exhilaration you get when you've been truly inspired. Or when you're manic. Or, maybe, both. In any case, that's a lot coming from a person with severe crowd-induced claustrophobia. Because, man, those were some serious crowds.

I will say this, though. One of the best things about hanging out with a fellow writer is that you know that you're likely in the presence of someone with a level of neuroticism equal to your own. And so it wasn't at all embarrassing that within half an hour Tamar simply knew to allow me to have the aisle seat or the last seat in the row, so I wouldn't start hyperventilating. And we had an ongoing competition to determine which of us was more obsessive-compulsive than the other. I think I edged her out on that one, but she definitely out impulse-bought me. So I guess it was an overall draw.

Oh, and it was so great to get to see Tamar's truly gorgeous Craftsman home, and to meet the extremely handsome, funny and charming Dan. And Damian. Well, what can I say? I walked in, he took me to see the fountain and showed me his signature plastic frog, and boom. Instant love.

Yep, it was a good weekend. And I had today off, since my reduced hours go through the end of the month. But tomorrow I'll be back in the office. Wonder how long I can make this weekend buzz last?