Well, not truly surreal but we did see the surreal at the Vancouver Art Gallery. And yes, it did seem a little surreal to walk past boarded windows and over scuffed floors where looters had rampaged less than 48 hours earlier. Another slightly surreal thing was the vast amount of grafitti on the boards condemning the rioters and expressing thanks to workers involved in the clean up.
I had wondered if the Wee Guy would be OK going in to downtown as he was upset by reporting on the riots (as well as the canucks losing) but he didn't express any concerns.
As with all date nights, everything was taken at full Wee Guy speed. I let him lead the way through the exhibits with occasional guidance when I thought something would interest him. We managed all four floors in not too much haste, though I will return to the surrealism at a more leisurely pace. It's wonderful to have an afternoon set aside for being with my son, undistracted by floors, cooking, repairs, household finance, bill payments, and so on. Yes, it is odd I need to schedule it, especially since I'm a SAHM and don't have the distraction of real work and office hours. But maybe without the obvious demarcation of work space vs home, and the regime of the 9 to 5 date night is equally valid for carving out this mythical entity, 'quality time'.
It seems to work for us; I get to go out and spend one-on-one time with my son, and he is learning about making special time for someone in his life as well as developing his social interests.
Wonder what I'll do when he's too cool to hang with mum?
