Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As well as buses, feet, and kayaks.

Those are the modes of transportation Meagan and I used while I visited her in DC this weekend.

First I took the Boston Express bus from Tyngsborough to Logan.The bus I decided to take was scheduled to drop me off at 11:50 for a 12:40 flight. I stressed the whole morning that I was cutting it too close. All so I could spend more time at home watering flowers, newly seeded grass, and recently transplanted bushes. Luckily, it worked out perfectly.

Then I took a plane and the metro to Meagan’s new apartment. I can’t believe I have such a grown-up for a daughter.

Since I’ve been to DC plenty of times, we focused on shopping for house warming gifts instead of site seeing. She wanted some curtains for her bedroom. In our hoofing and metering in search of curtains, we also picked up pillows, a mirror, and a trash can. What a mom.

After making our purchases, Meagan used Uber to get us a ride back to her apartment. During the ride, I told her that her father was going to have a fit when he found out she uses Uber. The first thing he said when I explained Uber to him: “So, a murderer could pick her up?”

Last week, I installed a light fixture in Heather’s apartment. I thought for sure I would run into problems, but it turned out to be a piece of cake. Installing the curtain rod was the complete opposite. This was the first time I met up with brick when drilling into dry wall. So, the next morning I took a bus to a hardware store for a special drill bit and picked up a step stool while I was there. The closest thing to a step stool she had was that kitchen island which we moved into her bedroom on my first installation attempt. After those purchases, I hailed a taxi via an app on my phone to the apartment.

Since it takes a while to drill through brick, we had to find something to do when we had to recharge the drill battery. Here’s what we did during our breaks:

While waiting for Meagan to get changed for the pool, I decided to reorganize her roommate’s entertainment center.

You might think my outfit is a little strange to be wearing for reorganizing an entertainment center. But this is pretty much the same outfit I wore to weed out poison ivy one year at the Cape. The only difference is I was wearing flip flops then. (I really should learn what poison ivy looks like.)

Once the curtain rod was installed, we finally got to do something touristy. We kayaked on the Potomac.

After kayaking, we met up with a couple of her friends from Wellesley (Rebecca and Priyanka). They talked about jobs, whether or not to go to grad school, newly acquired home maintenance skills, getting to know roommates, and the desire to not move again. I told them about some of the things I’ve been doing, and a couple times they said “Oh, yes, I read about that.” It turns out they like my blog, which I got a big kick out of.  They seemed like mature, level-headed, confident young women so they will hate me saying this – they are as cute as buttons, and I have the urge to tell their mothers how wonderful they are.

Over the course of the weekend, we had some great lunches and dinners. I think my favorite might have been the Thai restaurant where they just bring food out to you – there was no ordering off a menu. (An Andres find.)

Out of all our activities and transportation adventures, I most enjoyed the conversations Meagan and I had over those lunches and dinners. We have to do that more often.