The Challenge: Visit a farmer’s market with my baby
One of the words I teach my students is extemporaneously; coming from the Latin tempus, meaning time, it is defined as doing things on the spur-of-the-moment. Know what goes out of your life when you have a baby? The idea of doing anything extemporaneously. Which is why, when my sister showed up to hang out on a recent Sunday, and I exclaimed “let’s go to the farmer’s market!” she thought I had lost my mind. “Are you sure?” she asked quietly. We both looked at Weston, who was rubbing his eyes and getting grouchy.
We had planned to hang out at home, but I was tired of being home! Besides, it wasn’t insanely cold out, and I wanted to see what the local indoor winter’s market was like. “Yep!” I replied, and a “let’s roll” came out of my mouth before my mind could change itself. The market was at a local elementary school; we had both never been there, so we relied on GPS and arrived within minutes. During that time, Weston had fallen asleep in the back, so we did the best car-to-stroller transition we could, and we were successful!
To Market, To Market…
The farmer’s market was small, but had a plethora of interesting local vendors to check out. It was quite loud, there was a musician playing, but Weston kept on sleeping. We took a lap around the gym and saw boutique dog biscuits, local raw honey, Long Island apples, all-natural power bars, and lots of baked goods. I kept the stroller hood down as far as it could go, to keep the light out of his eyes, and as we wheeled him around the room, people would smile at the little sleeping boy in the blue hat. It was a different feeling being at the market with my child; instead of thinking about what I would want to eat, I thought about what I could buy to make for him! Would he like local eggs? Apples? I got an excited feeling thinking about all the fun we would have together, as he grows up, going to farmer’s markets and exploring the goods.
I’m Alive!
We wandered over to a bread seller and my sister got a day-old soft pretzel for free; we split a cup of coffee, and stood around for a few minutes people watching. It was so peaceful and I felt a contentedness that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I was happy, out in the world, with my son. He was cuddled up and sleeping; I felt in control of the situation. I can handle this “parenting thing”; better yet, I could handle this “going out and doing something without planning situation.” When you become a parent, I feel like everything is not only thought out in minute detail, but discussed until you simply cannot discuss it anymore. By deciding on doing something last minute, it allowed for my freedom of creativity to come back. It sounds so cliche, but by switching up my “mommy-mindset,” I felt so alive again! Now I know that I can put my son in the car and explore the world, because if something happens, it happens, and we can always just get back in the car and go on home!
[All photos taken by the Lovely sisters. All rights reserved]
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