Fatal flaw #1 - when a mother's overly confident that she can "get away" and have some time for herself, the gods do not look happily on this. At least they didn't in my case. The second they realized I was beginning to feel footloose and fancy free they began plotting revenge.
First stop, Hasselt, about an hour east of Brussels (aside: that's what I entered in my diary, and that's as far as I got!). After walking through town we found the establishment that housed the art exhibit, "The suspended moment", that we would tour. Still don't know what the place was called, but it looked sorta like an Abbey or churchgrounds, but there were no names anywhere. "Deadheaded" was the first bit of art. As you see here, it consists of a vase w living greens and dead flower heads spread on the ground below. Didn't really "get it", but enjoyed looking at the dead flowers and listening to the Dutch tour guide.Fatal flaw #2 - oh no, I was actually beginning to enjoy myself and have a little fun, and this was really getting the gods pissed off. A mom having fun and not knowing where she is - how irresponsible is that? It wouldn't be long now until their plan unfolded, but I never could've guessed how low they'd stoop!
A series of huge photos taken through rainy car windows in the U.K. was probably my favorite part of the tour. Simple idea, magnificent photos - I absolutely loved them. Maybe it's because as a kid between the ages of 4 and 7, I used to spend a lot of time watching the rain dance on windows (car windows, house windows, school windows) and daydreaming - of course that was the best part. It rained a lot in England (yes, that's when we lived in England) so I had ample opportunity to bond with the rain drops and dream about whatever.Fatal flaw #3 - mom is beginning to lose it - she's losing control, reconnecting with her past, starting to dream again. "We can't have this" scream the gods. "Time to intervene, and QUICK!"
Bbbbbbrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnngggggggggggg goes the cell phone. "Sh--" goes mom, thinking this can't be good - nobody ever calls me on my cell phone, so it must be serious. Of course, I can't manage to dig it out of my bag until after the message kicks in, and what a shock it was to hear the news. It was Jacques from school calling to tell me that they think Alex may have broken her arm. At first I thought he said, "vermoord", which if you know Dutch means "dead", but he really said "vermoed". I about keeled over. But then I heard him say "arm gebroken", which brought a big sigh of relief, followed by anxiety when it occurred to me that i had no way to get home. Luckily Stijn answered on the first ring and whisked Alex away for x-rays and a cast. And I was able to catch a ride back with the one mom who drove separately.
And the gods could be happy again with mom back in control of the house. Now let's just hope they don't freak out when I leave for Gibraltar for a WEEK! BTW, as you can tell from this photo, Alex is doing absolutely fine. She's already decorated her sling with jewels and pins and can't wait to get her flourescent yellow cast!
