Reasons to Look Up

I don't want to think about 9/11/2001 today.  I'm stunned at how little it takes all these years later to be reduced to tears again, the briefest of stories on the radio bringing it all back.  I don't want to think about all that can't be brought back.

So instead I will tell you of the kite festival we were surprised by, yet prepared for.

On Sunday I had the whole day off and my husband was out of town for Army work.  The weather was beautiful, and I chose to leave the house a mess and told the kids we should grab our kites and head to the lake and I would buy them ice cream for lunch.  They agreed this was a good plan, and off we went.

Quinn and his kite

As we drove over the bridge toward the museum the kids started exclaiming about all the kites.  Apparently we weren't the only ones to have this idea.  In fact, there was an entire kite festival happening on the lakefront that we got to join in.


It was wonderful.  Hundreds of kites, hundreds of people, booths set up with food and crafts and interesting things.  Aden wanted to do canvas painting, Quinn and Mona took off toward the field to get their kites in the air right away.  There were trick kite shows, and a candy drop, and music.

But mostly there were kites.  Dragons and fairies and birds and a shark and a jellyfish and a 150 foot red octopus!  As we were leaving it was joined by a giant blue octopus.  The two together in the sky looked as if they were swimming in the distance as we drove away.

Quinn's kite is maniacal and goes very high then spirals off sideways into other people's kites, so I spent a lot of time detangling his line from others, but it was still great.  It made eveyerone laugh.  Mona needed no assistance at all.  I loved watching her out there in the field, guiding her eagle kite, smile on her face the whole time.

I never got a chance to fly my own kite but I didn't care.  There were so many to see, and there were sailboats out, and it was all just delight and joy as far as you could see.

When my husband and I first moved to Milwaukee and we went out exploring the city on the weekends together it was like living in a vacation all the time.  It's a beautiful place with endless things to do.  I'm glad my kids get to grow up here.  At one point as we sat in the field admiring all the kites and the clouds my kids actually thanked me for making Milwaukee their home.  They know it's special.

It's important to know how to appreciate what we have.  It's like always having kites with you.