There’s a first time for everything in the life of a little boy or girl.
That first big trip. First Christmases and Halloweens and Easters and birthdays. First night away from home. First bike ride.
These occasions are often cause for a party and photographed for posterity.
Then there’s that first trip on an airplane – an occasion less celebrated than endured.
No one knows exactly how a two-year-old is going to react to being seated for hours in a flying tin can with pressure building up in his or her ears. Do you dose the kid with Benadryl and hope it knocks him out – instead of cranking him up? Will he scream or cry and not go to sleep? Or worse – will he barf on the passengers in the next row?
There’s no way to know except put ‘em on the plane and see what happens.
So we did. We bought our tickets and headed south to Black Mountain, North Carolina, near Asheville, for the Lake Eden Arts Festival, or LEAF, the twice-yearly world music and arts festival that Sofia’s uncle Leigh helps run. Members of our family have been going down to help out for years now and raved about how much fun it is and how much there is for children to see and do, so it seemed like a natural.
Of course, I worried. Because that’s what I do. And as usual it was all for nothing.
We pulled into Bradley International Airport at about 9 a.m. for our 10:10 flight to Charlotte, with a connection to Asheville.
After they made us take off our shoes – good thing for all of us I wore my boots instead of my biohazard sneakers – we started our walk through the terminal to the gate. Sofia started to push her Barbie suitcase until I taught her how to use the handle and wheels to pull it behind her. So she did … and I must have seen and heard it at least 10 times from folks in the terminal, gushing “oh look, how cute.”
Yup, that’s my girl.
She did not want to sit still in the terminal, twice nearly running into the tunnel that led to the plane headed for Pittsburgh. And we all know what happened the last time she went to Pittsburgh. No, she’s never been to Pittsburgh. Just Pittsfield.
Then again, having a little one means when they call “anyone with families or needing assistance” to board the plane first, for the first time I stepped to the counter and said “that would be us.” Membership does have its rewards. Ooh yeah.
Once we had that confounded child seat strapped down, had our table trays in the upright position and our seat backs fully forward, we were ready to go … and it went great. Naturally I clutched my late great grandmother’s Mass book – you know the one, leather bound, gilded pages, in the original Polish -- during take offs and landings, because a little extra divine assistance never hurts.
Sofia looked out at the window and enjoyed her flight to Charlotte immensely.
Once on the ground in Charlotte we headed for our connecting flight to Asheville. I was glad to see it wasn’t a turboprop (we rated a real, honest to goodness jet). As we loaded all our stuff onto the plane, I stood next to the nose holding Sofia and her hair blew in the wash kicked up by the engine – pretty picture. She liked the “breeze.”
Our pilot apparently studied at the Richard Petty School of Flight, because he whipped around the taxiway like he owned the plane. Then as we got into the air, the familiar thump of turbulence rattled the plane and sent my stomach crashing into my liver, or was it my spleen?
I clutched the prayer book again and turned somewhat green.
But just as we hit another big bump, I heard Sofia say “Wheeeee! Do it again! Do it again!”
My little adventure girl loved it – and made everyone around us laugh. Even me.
But I was never so happy to be back on the ground.
Arriving in Asheville we decided to get something to eat. And Michele’s brother’s girlfriend Jennifer, the amazing force of nature who programs and runs LEAF and has turned a little campground in the hills of Western Carolina into one of the best small music festivals in the country, had recommended this little place near the airport that serves up real Carolina BBQ.
Like all the best restaurants on the planet, it was a little place in a strip mall -- nothing fancy from the outside. This only heightened my anticipation. And upon stepping inside, I was not dispapointed. Yes -- real plastic benches. Cafeteria-style ordering. Iced tea -- both the "sweet tea" and unsweetened varieties. Red and white table vinyl tablecloths. Three kinds of sauce on every table and hot sauce if that wasn't enough. And a sweet little old lady behind the counter who called everyone (except me) 'ma'am."
I liked Carolina already.
There were ribs, chicken, barbecue (shredded beef or pork), brisket and a lovely collection of side dishes including baked beans and hush puppies. It was a difficult decision, but I ordered the brisket, in part because it came with three sides AND hush puppies. And it was sooooo good.
As my grandmother Mamie would say, “Pigs sleep after they eat.”
Once at the campground – turn left at the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center (an inoffensive name for a place holding serious juvenile offenders) and drive about a mile past the mobile homes – we were there.
Lake Eden. The home of Black Mountain College, the avant garde arts college that brought some of the world’s greatest creative minds to a little town in Western Carolina between the 1930s and 1950s. Now it’s a summer camp for boys. But twice a year, LEAF invites a few thousand people into cabins and tents on the property and brings in artisans, musicians, healing arts practitioners and vendors serving yummy food from all over the world onto this property and makes something magic out of it all.
Things started becoming clear to me the first night we were there, when we feasted on a buffet of African food and listened to The Afromotive, an up and coming Asheville band with a slick horn section.
There before me taking in the band and dancing was an interesting mix of folks. Parents with little kids. Twenty-somethings with long skirts or dreads and aging baby-boomers with long gray hair. Yuengling on tap. And everyone having a good time.
And after several minutes of plinking around, The Afromotive found a sinister groove and started kicking it. The horn section all took solos as the drums and African percussion pushed them on.
Thing one: They were good.
Thing two: This was going to be fun.
And it was. Jen and Leigh sure know how to pick great musicians. We in particular liked Crooked Still, an alt-bluegrass band from Boston, and Toubab Krewe, which is somewhere between African music and Pink Floyd. We also liked Martha Redbone, whose band opened with the theme from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Rock!
There were tons of families with little kids and tons of stuff for them to do. The festival has an entire area dedicated to kids’ activities and it was tremendous fun for the girls.
LEAF is known for having a family-friendly vibe and the reputation is well deserved. No drunks, no fights, none of the nonsense that seems to go part and parcel with music festival. Then again, this was a world music fest in the woods, not OzzFest at the Meadowlands. Crazy, but that’s how it goes…
Did I say no fights?
Sofia and her cousin Alyssa got along pretty well, but as was the case a few weeks ago when Sofia went to stay over with Auntie Kim and Grandma, the two of them eventually agreed to disagree.
Like the time that Alyssa took Sofia’s stroller. At first Sofia got really mad … like grabbing it back and baring her teeth. I picked her up in hopes of diffusing the sitiation. But it was several minutes later that we learned Sofia has a sense of justice (good) and can keep a grudge (not so good).
She and her cousin were sitting in their strollers on opposite sides of a path when Sofia, very purposefully, got up, marched over to Alyssa, said “not nice!” and thwacked her. Good luck with the unlearning.
I guess she must have been a very tired girl by that point, because Sofia slept the whole way home on the plane.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Sofia and Daddy jam to the ABCs
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Sofia can sing her ABCs now. Daddy was teaching her how to accompany her singing with a tune on the xylophone. She's so talented!
Sofia dances the Macarena
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We had a great time at Maggie and Kevin's wedding but Sofia had the best time showing her moves on the dance floor.
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