Dear Elena,
You were off from school this week, so Ana and I got to have a day out with you on Friday. Ana had it all planned that we were going to go to the Exploratorium, and maybe cable cars, and maybe Salesforce Park, and, well, who knows? That’s the cool things about our outings – they just sort of unfold with the day.
I was up in Rohnert Park, north of San Francisco, working at a casino event, so I drove down to meet you guys. You and Ana took the ferry over (you ate a Kit-Kat on the way), and I had already parked near the Exploratorium. I started walking toward the ferry terminal, and you all were walking from the ferry terminal toward the Exploratorium. But I saw you first, and hid behind a big column. Then I just started walking behind you. It looked like this:
So I snuck up behind you two and just started walking right behind you. After a minute or so, I think you sensed me being there, and turned to look. You almost jumped!
“Aby!”
And I got a big hug, which was awesome. Now, we were supposedly heading for the Exploratorium, which would have been fine. But Ana said, “Elena said they might be hungry.” It was 10:30am.
Rules, and grandparent rules
All grandparents know that there are two different kinds of rules:
- Rules
- Grandparent rules
#1, the “Rules” list, applies to you, all the time, no matter what. For instance, “Wear your seatbelt,” “Say please and thank you,” – those are rules all the time, whether you’re with your parents, your grandparents, or any grown-up. But grandparents get to modify some of the rules. That’s the second list.
You had asked your mom that morning when lunch was, and she said, “You have to wait a couple of hours.” But a grandparent rule is that if you’re hungry, then it’s fine to eat. So Ana found us a tiny little sushi place that was a five-minute walk away.
We got inari (lots of inari) and avocado rolls, and Ana got a sushi roll of some sort. Didn’t matter that it was 10:45am – grandparent rules say you can have sushi for brunch.
Then we went to the Exploratorium, but first we had to stop at the rope jungle gym.
Then we finally made it to the Exploratorium. But that’s the whole point of days out with Ana and Aby – we just let the day unroll and see where it wants to go.
Once we got inside, there were infinite things to see, so we just started strolling through, enjoying everything. You’d wander along until an exhibit caught your eye, and then you’d stop and investigate it. Ana and I would just wander at your pace, your stops, having a blast the whole time.
But pretty soon, it was time for you and me to go to the Tactile Dome. When you first heard about it, you were really excited to sign up for it, so we had a 12:15p appointment there. The Tactile Dome is a giant two-story dome in the middle of the Exploratorium, and it looks like this:
I can’t see a thing
The whole point of the Tactile Dome is that you’re crawling through a series of rooms, tunnels, hills, and slides. In. Absolute. Darkness.
Ana sent us on our way to it, and you were sort of bouncing around as we made our way toward that exhibit. E-blast, one of the best things about you is that you have your emotions right out in front where everybody can see them.
“Are you excited? Nervous?”
“Excited. And nervous. And excited.”
Which sounded just right.
We got inside the exhibit, where our guide, Luis, lowered the lights and explained how everything was going to work. We took our shoes off, and put all our “stuff” in cubbies, because if you dropped something inside the Dome, well, it was going to be a while before it got found.
There was just one other woman for the tour that we were doing. Luis let her go in first. When she got half way (he can see people on infrared cameras) he sent us in. He pulled back a curtain, and in we went.
“Aby, where are you?”
“Right here.”
“Oh, there’s your arm. Okay.”
You wanted to immediately try to find our way to the next room, but I wanted to stand up and feel around. But pretty soon, you said, “I found a door!” Off we went.
At first, you stayed very close to me, and wanted to kind of hang on. But as you began to figure out the general idea, you became more adventurous. I would stop and reach up – I found a chandelier made out of forks and spoons.
At some point, Luis came on the speaker, and said, “You’re halfway through.” I could hear your excitement in the dark – “Aby, we’re doing this!”
Pretty soon, we were climbing up a hill, and we could begin to make out red light in a big round room. One sign said “Up,” and the other sign said “Out.” If you went up, you got up on a shelf, that circled the entire room. Half of the shelf of padded vinyl, the other half was fake grass. We chased each other around the shelf for a little while, then sat in the dim red light, proud of ourselves for making it through the “dark forest.”
To get out of the exhibit, there was one more slide we went down (in pitch darkness) – it landed in a giant pool of what felt like beans. So there we sat in the dark, buried to our waists in beans. The one other lady had left long ago, so it was just the two of us. I suggested we exchange gratitudes. You said,
“I’m grateful for crawling around in the dark. And sushi for breakfast.”
Those seemed like two good gratitudes, and I expressed something similar.
Then we went back into the little preparation room, and put on our shoes and jackets and stuff. Luis raised the light levels a little so our eyes wouldn’t be freaked out when we got out to the main area.
Ana was waiting for us, and we went to see more exhibits.
Frozen in time
One of the coolest exhibits was showing the work of Harold Edgerton, who invented strobe photography. A “strobe” is a super-fast blink of light that can capture insanely fast things. Like a drop of milk hitting a glass of milk:
At the Exporatorium, you could be part of your own strobe photo. They dropped a drop of water into a pool of water, with your face watching the whole thing. Of course, our eyes can’t see the beautiful thing that happens, but the strobe caught it. Here’s you, not seeing the beautiful pattern from the water droplet:
I completely lost track of all the different exhibits we went to. I do know that occasionally Ana or I would say, “Are you about done, or do you wanna see more?”
“I want to see more exhibits.”
And so we did. But finally it was Hungry O’Clock, and we’d been on our feet a lot. So we went to the restaurant at the Exploratorium and had snacks, leftover avocado sushi, and chocolate milk. Which was all it took to revive you.
“I’d like to go on the Tactile Dome again.”
Life is short, and when you find a ride you wanna go on, you go back.
Ana was perfectly happy for the two of us to do it again, and Luis was happy to see us again. This time, there were two moms and their daughters. One of the moms was game to go through, but the other one was going to send her daughter, who is 12 (minimum age to go by yourself) on her own.
She went first, and Luis let her get halfway through before he sent you and me in. This time, you were ready to rock and roll from the jump.
“C’mon Aby – we go through this door, then up a ramp…”
We moved relatively quickly through the tour this time, and you knew exactly where you were at all times.
Flying solo
After we got out, you and the two girls were ready to go back in. By yourselves. The one mom had had enough of the darkness, and I had already gone through three times.
You and the two girls, both of whom are about your age, went in as a trio. Luis, the two moms, and I sat in the dim light of the ante-room, and listened as the three of you chattered and laughed your way through.
Was this the same E-blast who, earlier that same day, was excited, nervous, and excited about going into the darkness with a granddad in tow? Sure was. Now E-blast was a confident adventurer, making their way through the darkness without the least hesitation, calling their position out to the others (“I’m in the rope room!”).
For me, it was almost – almost – as much fun hearing you confidently making your way through the tunnels and ramps as being on the adventure with you.
Eventually, you all came shrieking down into the bean pit, and it was time to go.
You all: “Can we go again again?”
Luis: “Sorry, time’s up.”
You all: “Aw.”
We put ourselves back together and went outside. Ana was sitting on the same sofa, waiting for us to get back from yet another adventure.
A big crazy adventure
This time, it really was time to go. We made our way to the exit. You and Ana were going to walk back to where your ferry would take you to Alameda. My car was parked across the street, so I was going in the opposite direction.
You dove in and gave me a hug like I don’t think I’ve had from you since you were maybe 4-5 years old. E-blast, I’m going to tell you something: those hugs never get old. That full-body, face in the hoodie hug – man, my heart is good to go for a week after one of those. So thank you.
As I was walking back to my car, I got to thinking about the Tactile Dome, and going through tunnels and slides in the dark with you.
I rarely know where I’m going in life, and sometimes it feels like I’m stumbling along in the dark, going through secret doors, and crawling up ramps. But Elena, if I can hear your voice, feel your hand in mine once in a while, I won’t care in the least. Life with you around is a big old adventure, and tripping in the dark is just part of the fun.
P.S. When we got outside the Exploratorium, I put my hand in my hoodie pocket, and felt something. Pulled it out – it was a bean from the bean pit! Faster than a strobe-light could catch it, your hand shot out and snatched it from me. It was the perfect souvenir. Only you lost it at some point during that, or the next day.
Until your dad did laundry.
