And...Today Rocked.

Go figure.

Before I tell you why, though, let me just say that my little ketchup smeared daughter, wearing holey pink sweatpants, a Pink Floyd t-shirt, and a sleepy grin, just said "I love you Mommy" as she was going up for her bath.

{{{{MELTS INTO GINORMOUS PUDDLE}}}}

Even without that, it's so funny what a difference 24 hours can make. I was going to post this week about our ongoing saga to find a really great playground, and we not only did that today, I think we found our people.

I took a wrong turn on Monday and glimpsed what I thought was a really cool playground in the neighborhood directly adjacent to ours. There was some question about whether it was a public playground, though, so I filed it away as something to check out eventually. But today, I got a wild hair up my ass (disgusting expression-- sorry for inflicting it on you) and tacked a trip there onto the end of a few errands, and dude. DUDE. It was heaven.

It's seriously been like the Three Little Bears trying out this playground and that playground, trying to find one that's "just right." Some of them are OK, but they equipment leaves something to be desired. Or the equipment's fine, but there's that ever-present wino on the bench. Or there's no wino, but you're speaking the wrong language and can't join in the conversation. Or you could join in the conversation, but it's about who's going to get "popped" or "whupped" for chasing his sister (and I'm a firm believer in mothering the way that works for you, but HELLO, talk about feeling like a square peg).

At any rate, imagine the best playground experience you've ever had, multiply it by 1,000, and you might get this playground. It's owned by a church but open to the public, and everyone in the neighborhood has filled it with old tricycles and buckets for the sandbox and push toys for the younger babies. There are swings, and slides, there's a see-saw, and there are several wooden playsets, one of which is shaped like an old Model-T. The moms there were low-key and talking about things like books and how their summers had been, and I was warmly welcomed by two different mothers and encouraged to come back. One of them even remembered me from story time two weeks ago (though she was not, thankfully, there yesterday.) There were moms drinking coffee, and moms with tattoos, and there were even a couple of dads and one proud grandfather watching over his six-month-old granddaughter.

I mean, come on. How perfect is that? It's like the universe read yesterday's entry and special ordered the exact remedy I needed. I am SO excited to begin hanging out there on a regular basis.

And Eva said "I love you, Mommy." Today was the best day ever! ;'}