Lofts and empathy

...not tea and sympathy.
1.) Yesterday we went to the city hop downtown, and Russ and I are sooooooo planning to move down to mingle with the urban elite once the kids are off to their respectable Ivy League universities. It was basically a giant open house featuring all the renovated warehouses downtown into the uber-hip-and-trendy "lofts for the urban romantic." I saw so much blond parquet flooring, track light, granite and stainless steel fixtues I began to long for the gaudy country chic of Grandma's attic. But oh, was it divine. There is something fan-freakin-tastic about being to walk everywhere. (Honestly, part of the reason I love the burb I am in is because it has its own Colonial, hip feel to it and you can walk places also. If I couldn't go to my Scottie MacBean's sidewalk cafe I would feel a hole in my heart.) But I digress: the renewed vibrancy of downtown is giving me hope that a s*t load of cool people actually do live in Cowtown.... the twelfth largest city in the USofA!! My favorite developments were The Buggyworks and Jeffrey Place. The Buggyworks rocked my world. First of all, this whole area-- the Arena District-- stands on the grounds of the ex state penetentiary, and when I was in college, my freakish film-school roommates used to film short ghost movies within its crumbling walls and run around through the rotten, rusty bars of the cells. Now the Pen is demolished and sprouting from the graveyard of the convicted, rises the rebirth of cool Columbus. Anywho, the Buggyworks is where I'd choose to live... ( www.thebuggyworks.com ) and Jeffrey Place, when it is finished in a few years, will be astonishing. I'd like to live in one of the single-family, huge Mary Poppins houses. The new Victorians!! What a fab idea!!
Anyway, we walked our asses off, had fun, fought over where to eat, and followed a crowd of friendly gay men who kept pinching each others' butts and joking about dropping to their knees. Well, who the hell else lives in these sleek urban lofts?!-- them, artists and DINKs.
2.) I have taken to infiltrating young Frankie's pool at his apartment complex, (another favorite area of mine in the city.... Clintonville, an urban, yet pristine residential area with tightly-spaced homes built in the 20's and 30s situated on ravines and surrounded by quaint shops and boutiques). Part of the reason why I go to his pool. Anyway, I scored his code to get into the pool and I have been taking the girls now and then. So I'm laying out by the pool in my big hip Olson-twins sunglasses, thinking I look pretty good, even if I am surrounded by tan, skinny college girls...when suddenly I see Chloe looking at me with a pitying, empathetic face and she says, "Mommy....I feel bad for you."
"Why?" I say.
"Because..." she replies wistfully, "You're the only mom here."
OUCH!!!
So, that's the latest Chloe story. With the exeption of today, when she and Meghan crafted a father's day card for Russ that says "Dear daddy, Ever since I was little, I knew I would have a chind (kind), sooeet (sweet) dad like you."
They're off to camp tomorrow!!! I get to actually concentrate on doing some major damage control at work. Long story, but I think I F*ed up.
Gotta fly!!!