greyselke came to visit!

A couple weeks ago, greyselke texted me out of nowhere after years--the last time I saw her was when I went to Philadelphia in 2015--and said that she and her family were going on a road trip that would lead them through Chicago and were we free to meet up? We were, and so yesterday the planned day arrived.

sashagee and Laila and I arrived just a little late at Yolk in the South Loop and we waited. And we waited, and we waited, and forty-five minutes later greyselke and family arrived--they were staying up in Skokie and had driven into the city and then taken the L but slightly misjudged the time. Fortunately, despite the larger crowds showing up, 9:45 a.m. was still early enough for brunch that they were able to seat us in a few minutes. I sat with Laila on my right and greyselke's elder daughter on my left, and we caught up over salmon on salad (me) and red velvet French toast (greyselke's elder daughter and sashagee). I was a little worried about Laila around new people, but she's still young enough that it's all the same to her--and later on she really took to greyselke's daughters.

After brunch, we walked over to the Field Museum and met one of greyselke's family friends there, a man whose wife runs the Women and Children First bookstore in Andersonville, along with his two-year-old daughter. She was more talkative than Laila but less active--we were chasing Laila all over the place and trying to prevent her from climbing onto the dinosaur exhibits, but the other girl mostly wanted to be carried. Laila was happy to run around while sashagee chased after her and greyselke talked about our lives:

Me: "So, you work for the hashtag deep state?"
greyselke: "Well, they have health care."

until Laila ran back and wanted me to pick her up, then sashagee got a break. But in the end, it was greyselke's daughters that came to the rescue--they, especially the older one, really took to Laila, holding her hands as she walked between them and arranging a nest where they all sat in each other's laps. Even though Laila couldn't talk to them very well, or maybe because she couldn't so she was pure cute. Regardless, they all had a lovely time in the Pleistocene megafauna section until it grew too late and we had to go home to put Laila to bed for her nap, with a promise to meet up again later in Andersonville.

Laila went to bed late but she woke up early, so when we texted greyselke's family they hadn't arrived yet. We got Laila changed and snacked and walked down to Andersonville, and after a brief pop into Ándale Market for the Carolyn's Krisps cookies that Laila tried and loved at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago, we entered the bookstore and were followed a couple minutes later by greyselke and company! We all hung out in the children's book section and greyselke's daughters read mostly quietly while Laila ran around trying to pull basically all the books off the shelves, and when the store had ten minutes to closing, sashagee picked out a fold-open book for Laila and we bought it and went outside, followed a bit later by greyselke's family friend. His daughter and wife were going home to spend some time together but he came with us to dinner--technically, it was sashagee and I coming with them to dinner--and they followed our suggestion of vegan tacos, especially because it was literally a block away. The only interruption to our meal came when Laila was being rambunctious and I offered to go take her outside so she could run around. greyselke's younger daughter immediately asked if she could come, and I said sure, and then her elder daughter asked if she could come, and, well, the more the merrier, so we all went outside and they ran around and played with gravel near the trees and held Laila's hands as they walked until we were told that the food had come. greyselke's younger daughter didn't originally want to go back, but food drew her in.

I got the vegan chimichanga and it was delicious. greyselke's older daughter got the enchiladas, but she wasn't a big fan of spicy food. Laila got a couple tacos, and a bunch of people got various flavors of horchata. We ate our food, and drank our dranks, and went out to ice cream afterwards and at last had to say goodbye. But we got greyselke's home address so we can at last send her nengajō and hopefully visit her in the future, and she told us if we go to Philadelphia to visit everyone (as we plan to do), to let her know.

Laila got hugs from greyselke's daughters. In the end, they really liked meeting her, and it was lovely to see them all too.