Just One Wish

Today at 12am, the 405 freeway here in Los Angeles was closed for a 50-something hour construction project, and thus began the traffic pandemic of doom, or aka, "Carmageddon 2011." However, what has ended up happening (so far anyway) is that most people have either gone out of town for the weekend (making sense of the horrid Wednesday/Thursday traffic this week) or have decided to stay home, thus resulting in a huge decline in normal LA traffic. I made it from Brentwood to Sherman Oaks today in 11 minutes - a drive that normally takes me anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. Long story short - really great weekend to be in LA because the "ghost town-like" atmosphere makes it really fun and easy to get around. And this is certainly not typical!

Anyway, today I am cruising around with Monkey and Z, on the way home from gymnastics, and Z notices how quickly we are driving and the decrease of cars on the road. "Wow," she says really quietly, "this is sort of the best day ever." I look back at her and ask her why. She ignores me and continues to stare out the window in awe. Monkey, who is usually a chatterbox, joins in and the two of them cannot believe their eyes. They are growing up in West LA, so traffic is just part of their life.

A few minutes later, Z perks up. "Do you know what my birthday wish is?" she asks, huge grin on her face. A pony? The pinkest tutu ever made? A house made out of glitter and Kosher cookie dough? Isn't that every 6-year-old's dream? And then, as serious as she knows how to be, she says "I wish for there to be no traffic on my birthday, just like today. No traffic on my birthday would make me the happiest birthday girl ever."

So there you have it folks, no traffic will make this almost 6-year-old the happiest one in history. Maybe I can do a "clear roads" dance or something. Or maybe have a little chat with the traffic gods and see what we can do about that one. If she can just make it to her princess tea party (costumes and real china and all!) and back without one second of traffic - she will literally be blown away. But really - how sad is that? Is that what children in West LA dream of? I grew up dreaming of the ice cream man asking my mother if he could permanently park it in our driveway and here she is hoping and praying we will make it across town without needing to use the horn and slam on our breaks.

Reason #162 why I will never raise my (future) children in LA. Kids deserve to have a childhood and not worry about all the crap adults have to worry about. They get maybe ten years these days to be a kid and see the world from an innocent and stress-free perspective. But this topic is an entirely separate post and will have to wait until another time. It's the end of my work week and I am over the hill, at home, cozy in bed and excited to wake up without Monkey's uber loud version of "Baby you're a firework!" in my ear at 5:45am. Yup. Childless for 55 hours and intent on enjoying every single minute of it! Starting off of course, with some much needed sleep.