This week was long and hard, back to online school with a side of crazy in the news. The weather cleared yesterday afternoon and I wanted to get the kids out of the house for a bit before dinner.

Noble Woods was closed, I suspect the path was flooded, so we drove across to 53rd Street Park. I don’t think we’ve been since last March, before the Pandemic, BP.

I met a fellow mom. As we took turns pushing the bulky merry-go-round, we talked about our kids and spouses and working from home. Our children chatted as if they already had seen each other a dozen times, instant besties. In masks, I am not sure if we could even identify each other’s faces.

As the last bits of light fell behind the horizon of the winter sky and before the park lights flickered on, we exchanged phone numbers and extracted our children from the equipment. In my contacts her first name is listed with last name son’s name’s mom. We’re not alone, we can do this, and the days are getting longer.