Their favorite outing of the summer. What was going to be a short afternoon visit at the Garden State Discovery Museum became an event, an I-wish-I-had-brought-some-work-to-do-because-we-could-live-here-for-a-while type of event. I was a diner customer, a pet owner at the vet clinic, an audience at Lydia’s puppet show, a California Pizza Kitchen eater, a stage mom during a Peter Cottontail play, a consultant for an architect and her construction crew, a hockey fan, an action news viewer, a guest aboard a cruise ship…see what I mean?
I fought the temptation to keep hitting refresh on the iPhone in my back pocket and got right on in there with them.
In between fishing off a cruise ship and ordering a chocolate milkshake at the diner, a 4-year-old doctor summoned me to the medical clinic. As I sat in the waiting area for my turn to be seen, another little girl decided she was going to join us. We never learned her name; she was just a cute little blondie of probably 6 or 7 who grabbed the chance to get into a story with us. She looked at Lydia as she rummaged around to find her medical supplies—lab coat, stethoscope, blankets, clipboard. She looked at me squished into the little waiting area chair. She paused for a moment and then said, “Wait. You need a baby. I’ll get you your baby.” Blondie started her own rummaging without Lydia even noticing her, digging down into bins where naked baby dolls with scuff marks on their heads clung to each other for protection against the masses of children running through this place daily. I watched as Blondie would look at one and then throw it aside, look at another and then throw it aside, surely adding more scuff marks with every toss. Not that one. Not that one. When there were babies strewn all over the clinic floor, she finally found one that satisfied her. The hands that were just tossing dolls aside now very gently wrapped my baby up in a blanket, tucking her in to ensure she wasn’t chilled. Then she handed me my baby while Lydia stood by ready to give her a full examination.
A little Asian baby from the bottom of the bin.
Perfect for the white mama playing in a children’s museum with a Chinese daughter with the sweetest dimples.
And, just in case you want to know, the 4-year-old physician pronounced her completely healthy as Blondie watched on with a smile then handed me my bill.
