On the tourist trail

I spent a lovely day today with my very grown up son and his girlfriend. What a surprise it is to see my 'little boy' caring for me and his girlfriend. He pointed out to me that I seem to always think of him as six years old. Now my six year old has beard!
Tomorrow is my last full day here in San Francisco with my kids. I don't need to go touring. I know the city and I came to spend time with my children. I am amazed that they are both so willing to spend whole days with me. It's not all perfect - I do find myself being careful in what I say or do, but no more careful than I should be with anyone I respect.

I can remeber when my mother would arrive in London for one of her annual visits. I would clean and clear endlessly because I was so afraid of her judgements. She always said that she was allowed to criticise me and be generally negative because I was her daughter and therefore she didn't have to watch her words, as she put it. Now that I find myself as the visiting mum I try and remember how disrespectful I found all those judgements and hopefully I'm not doing the same to my kids.

I'm looking forward to the cooler weather on the East Coast. Today we did play tourist and went to Fishermans Wharf. Eating crab, watching the sea lions and enjoying the sun and my son, was lovely. Tomorrow I'll spend the day with my daughter. I am very happy and if Ralph were with it would be even better.