Monday, January 28, 2008

I took the girls to a birthday party at a jumphouse place in Sunnyvale yesterday, where they had inordinate amounts of fun launching themselves down inflatable slides and propelling themselves ceilingward from rubbery surfaces. There was also cake and balloon animals. Unfortunately, as we were leaving, Willow's balloon animal, attached to a helium balloon, made a break for it. It was last seen drifting north over the rooftops.

Since the rooftops belonged to apartment buildings that I used to deliver the Wall St. Journal to, I figured I'd try to distract Willow from her loss by showing her where I used to work, which just happened to be right around the corner (actually, more correctly, where I used to pick up newspapers so I could then go work). On the way there, we passed a trailer park called Willow Estates, which excited the girls. I also couldn't help noticing all of the new apartment complexes and condominiums that have sprung up like strange fungal growths (although much less useful than fungus) in the years since I stopped delivering papers. My one thought, as I peered up through the rain-spattered windows at all of the new buildings, was I'm really, really glad that I'm not still delivering papers around here. I'm sure all of these new buildings would have added hours to my route, not to mention the fact that they're damn ugly. In fact, Sunnyvale is damn ugly. The founders only named it "Sunnyvale" because nobody would want to live in a city called "damnuglyvale".

Anyway, we passed my old drop site, and then hit the road for home. Willow was still upset. Later, I bought her a small stuffed animal to make up for the lost balloon one. This made Sophie upset. You can't win.

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