Over the Christmas holiday we packed up the whole tribe and went to my wife’s parent’s house in Joshua Tree. It’s way colder there than in Los Angeles so we packed some warmer wintery clothes for our new daughter, Harlow. Among this collection of adorable fluffiness was a hand-me-down, oversized, super fluffy, white bear suit with the ears and everything. No idea where it came from but it looked perfect to put her in for our brisk daily strolls through the desert wind. After a couple strolls, we noticed that this bear suit was freaking magical. Put the baby in the bear suit, put the bear suited baby in stroller and… Voilà! … she’s asleep! This bear suit is newborn valium!
Since then, that’s the protocol; just before nap time she’s in the bear suit, into the stroller, down the street and into Sleepytown. Every time. Over and over again. Same thing each day. Over and over again. Bear suit, walk, nap. Bear suit, walk, nap. We started to know every part of the sidewalk, where all the big cracks were, where the big dogs were going to charge the fence, when, Greg… The Mayor of Lower Beachwood would be out working on his house… etc. For weeks, it was constant and it was never changing. We live in a pretty hilly neighborhood so stroller travel is rather limited. We finally hit a point where we would talk about how we couldn’t bear it anymore (pun intended). The same repetitious activity was becoming burdensome, almost hopeless. Take the walk, walk back to the house, put the baby down… repeat. Until one day, we looked across Beachwood Drive and realized… there was another side of the street.
What!?!? Another side that isn’t the side we’ve been walking on for weeks!?!? That’s it, we made the move. Pulled Rocco the rat dog close on his leash, waited for a gap in the traffic and we all made a mad dash for the freedom and opportunity of the East side of Beachwood Drive. When we landed on it’s welcoming shores we realized that this well shaded Utopia had been waiting for us this whole time. We strolled as if we were in the South of France or soaking up Florence, Italy for the first time. This seemingly insignificant change is scenery made this former drudge of a journey, a refreshing adventure into the unknown. We now look over at WBD (West Beachwood Dr) and can’t believe we suffered it’s tedium and mediocrity for so long;)
A new epic voyage was there the whole time, we just needed to cross the street. Have you been walking on one side too long? Maybe it’s time to cross.
