Originally Kirsten and I were going to meet in Chicago. But she bought a house and needed to move. Then found out she was pregnant, so we couldn't delay the trip.
The solution? I would come to see her in Detroit. I said I would pack working clothes and help clean, pack, whatever she needed.
The morning I left, I needed to take a cab to the airport. This was no ordinary cab trip, though. Victoria had heard me say I needed to take a cab, and said, "call Davey! Call Davey!" Dave is the husband of Lou, our child care provider. The daycare kids, of course, all know that Dave drives a cab.
But, I pointed out to Victoria that I didn't know what cab company Dave drove for, let alone whether he was working at that time. She can be insistent, though. And sometimes I am powerless to say no. So, despite feeling like I was being annoying with my questions, I followed Victoria's instructions, called Lou, found out the name of the company, and before I knew, it I was calling Yellow Cab with a "PC" for Dave. I took pictures to show the kids.
Upon landing in Detroit, there was quite the fiasco trying to find Kirsten (who apparently was at the WRONG terminal *cough*). Eventually, I was in a car with her and her son, Soren, and after dinner at their rental house we walked through the beautiful community of Ferndale to see their new house, which they had just gotten keys to (but not moved into).
The next morning, Kirsten and Soren introduced me to their favorite local coffee shop.
Then, we headed back to the new house to start that cleaning project!
Check out that shiny clean kitchen! We were pretty proud.
We deserved dinner out that night.
We spent some time driving around Detroit. I've heard so much about Detroit's struggles, and wanted to see some of the landscape myself. We drove down "8 Mile," seeing decent shopping areas on the north side (Ferndale), and abandoned buildings on the south side (Detroit). We drove past buildings that honestly looked like they had been through a war -- windows completely gone, everything stripped out. There were nice pockets of housing, with fields of vacant lots behind them. And some neighborhoods with tall fencing and their own security guards and systems. It was fascinating. I really liked the downtown area, where they are building transit, and people were streaming about for an upcoming game. We also visited Eastern Market, with beautiful murals.
After exploring Detroit, we headed back for a relaxing barbecue (and delicious beer for me!) at their house. I treasure my friendship with this dear woman who I have known since I was 7, and her lovely family.
