So here's the way my week-long visit with my second-born was supposed to play out:
Adventures around Columbus all week long.
Run up to Cleveland on Saturday for my two-year-old great-niece's afternoon birthday party
Spend the night in Cleveland, drive back on Sunday morning.
Fly home to Seattle Monday night.
Here is what actually happened:
Adventures around for a day and a half
Spontaneous road trip to Chicago
Overstayed our Windy City visit
Drove to Cleveland way late.
Missed the birthday party
Showed up at my sis- and bro-in-law's house for a fantastic after party.
Left their house around midnight for the two-hour drive back to Columbus.
Spent Sunday recovering.
Flew home to Seattle Monday night.
Oh, And along the way, I scored a fabulous mid century bookcase.
Stylish and sweet, the new bookcase lives at my daughter's home.
During the waning years of my mother-in-law's sweet life, she moved from her grand family home to an apartment to a small assisted-living space. With each change of address came another round of downsizing, and my husband's younger sister and her patient husband gathered all of these beloved belongings into their basement.
Over the years, the siblings have gone over this tremendous stash time and time again, selecting favorite pieces, carting some off to the east coast and others to our home on the west. But no matter how many car- and truck- and shipping-pod-loads disappear, there always seem to be new gems uncovered, too precious to be tossed.
During our Saturday evening visit, my sister-in-law invited me to take yet another tour of the basement and see if there was anything I'd like to claim. As I headed toward the familiar stairs, she called after me, "Hey, there's a nice bookcase down there. Check it out."
For all my trips to the basement over the years, I hadn't seen this particular bookcase before. And my sis-in-law was right - this baby was solid birch construction with clean mid century lines, in immaculate condition.
And most tantalizing of all, we had already taken the matching dresser - my eldest daughter uses it in her apartment. I'm not a fan of matchy-matchy furniture but I do love to keep furniture siblings together.
Full of art books, I can only assume it is loving its new lease on life.
No question about it; I loved the bookcase.
But ugh. Over the years, we had already shipped two moving pods of belongings across the United States. My husband would surely curl up and die if I proposed moving something more.
Suddenly my brain threw off a few tiny sparks of inspiration.
My daughter lives just two hours away! If only I could get the bookcase to her place, we could figure the rest out later.
But how was I to transport this beauty to Columbus?
I laughed at myself. My rental car was parked in the driveway, literally ready and waiting to do my bookcase bidding.
Five minutes later, my brother-in-law and nephew had wrestled the bookcase into my car. The sturdy frame grazed the interior on both sides, the legs just cleared the ceiling. It was a perfect fit.
In other words, this bookcase and I were a match made in heaven.
My daughter's dining table decked out with fall flair.
We rolled into my daughter's apartment in the wee hours of the night.
The bookcase spent the night in the car.
Earlier in the week, we had searched high and low for the perfect white pumpkins. Things had fallen into place in that endeavor too.
The next morning, we lugged it up the stairs to my daughter's bedroom, where it sits to this very day.
John Glenn International Airport at night. Bye, Columbus!
And shortly thereafter, I said goodbye to my daughter and her new bookcase, and flew away home.
* * * * *
I spent an eventful week in Columbus with my second-born - here are all the details:
Suitcase Signals
Fox In The Snow
Picking Pumpkins
The Bean
The Gorilla And The Flamingo
Doughnut Vault
Wells Street Bridge
The Rookery
Flamingo Again
Wabash Arts Corridor
The Berghoff
Glossier Pop-Up
Bookcase Bonanza
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