Shoot first, ask questions later

What do you call the person who packs up her two kids on the spur of the moment, takes a couple of carry-on, and flies to Seattle for three days? My husband called me his "frontier woman" as he loaded us into to the car for the drive to the airport. That was me, Is-a-crazy, flying solo last weekend.

My oldest girlfriend, who I have known since I was nine years old (she shares the title with her sister,) was going to be in Seattle to do the interior design of a private jet for some billionaire who lives up there. She hadn't met Makena and I didn't know when I would be going to Montreal, so since we were on the same coast and I was suffering from writer's block, I decided to shake things up and take the bull by the horns and I quickly booked myself on a super cheap-non-refundable-no matter-what Expedia package so that she could meet the baby and have a visit with Jack. Seattle also happened to be where another family, we traveled to China to adopt with, happened to live so it all seemed like a reasonable adventure and meant to be. I'd kill two birds with one stone: reunite Makena with one of her China cousins and have her meet my jet-setting friend.

If I had paid closer attention to the Weather channel and noticed that they were having record-breaking rain storms and cataclysmic floods up there, I may have hesitated. If I had been told that trying to get my rental car at nine-thirty on a Saturday night would turn into a two hour fiasco as I dragged luggage and pushed a stroller with a crying baby and a sleep-walking eight year old up in the elevator and across the sky bridge, into the parking lot and back to the airport terminal THREE TIMES because every direction I was given was wrong! Only to finally make it to the airport car rental site and discover that it was closed and reading a notice that told me to grab a shuttle and head to Timbuktu to pick up my vehicle -- To finally get there and be told that all the computers were down and that they were unable to verify my reservation... To finally get the car and to have to drive exhausted into an unfamiliar city -- in a rain storm -- because it only started to rain the minute I got in the car -- I may have stayed home!

Nevertheless, around the stroke of midnight, we made it in one piece and the hotel was extremely accommodating. When they rolled the crib into the room, I had flashbacks of Chongqing just before we got Makena and I wondered how the baby would deal with everything when she woke up and found herself in a strange bed, in a hotel room, and what impact that might have on her. Jack mumbled something about "room service" pancakes and bacon before passing out and I fell asleep watching an episode of "Flip that House," a remodeling show full of insane people with dubious decorating and remodeling tastes.

Sunday was great. Our China friends and my girlfriend met us at the hotel and we walked to the public market in the rain and ate lunch and then strolled to the aquarium. I worried that Jack would complain about all the walking but I slipped him a twenty (for hardly complaining at the airport) and he spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to spend it. Finally settling on a stuffed Ecoli virus toy. It was a toss up between the Ebola and polio ones but the fringe is what finally sold him. Besides, with all the Spinach fiasco, Ecoli was on his mind.



Monday was spent visiting the Space needle and the science museum and Mak and Jack were total troopers. The flight home was uneventful and the crowning glory was Makena returning home, seeing Tiger and her bedroom, and breaking out into this huge smile followed by a twelve hour sleep through the night!

Yeah! I'm so glad I shot first and asked questions later. We had the best time.

Is - a- loving Seattle.