magical [moments]

[moment 39]

If I'm being honest, I wasn't looking forward to taking my kids to meet up with friends over an hour away from home. I was tired. I had another season of Chicago Med to binge watch. 

One of my children who was planning to go wasn't capable of humaning, but their significant other wanted to go, so I made arrangements to pick them up on the way. They were up for some shopping at Olde Mistick Village and limited human interaction, so it was comforting to have someone along who was on the same wavelength as me. 

I'll have to admit that the day went better than I thought it would. We met up with friends, abandoned left the teens who wanted to hang out with said friends at the Aquarium, and three of us went to see what the shops had to offer - after the procurement of sweatshirts from the Aquarium gift store for my companions, who had not quite managed to dress for the weather. 

As we shopped, I was not allowed to purchase dragon light fixtures, a dragon skull, or a medieval helmet. It seems one of my children is very mean to their mother when she wants to make bad life choices. 

The three of us had a good time looking at all the things various stores had to offer until my body decided it was done for a while and needed a rest. We stopped by the general store on the way to the van and the scent of fresh, warm candied pecans greeted us as we walked through the door. As if by magic, that delicious scent transported me momentarily to my honeymoon and the candied pecans I munched as we strolled through Magic Kingdom. It's funny how certain smells contain such vivid memories of simple joys. 

Warming up in the van and munching on my newly procured pecans, we vacillated between conversation and doing things on our phones. Soon enough the rest of our family let us know they were heading our way. We made trips to two last stores - The Cloak and Wand and the general store - to get our traditional potions and fudge for the ride home. 

The sky was ablaze as we heading home directly toward the setting sun. At one point it looked like the highway was on fire. 

Although initially I wasn't too thrilled about leaving the comfort of my bed, the day turned out to be filled with magical moments of connection and laughter and just a little bit of magic.