I can't remember how this day happened, but I do remember that the night before I was trying to find something to do with Belle. Davis and Ruby were gone for some reason, and I thought this would be an excellent time to connect with my girly with curlies. She is the sweetest, but somewhere along the lines matured to the point that hanging out with Dad just doesn't happen much anymore. So I searched and searched, and came up with this...The Birmingham Museum of Art on Hispanic Day.
Magan told me later that Belle was not very excited and trying to figure out ways to not go, but Mom reminded her that we don't have many Daddy Belle days, and I guess she caved in. I knew it did not have the ring of a super fun trip, but I also knew that it was different. And different means new, and new is mysterious, and mysterious can be fun.
And in hindsight, I think she will agree, it was a day of many laughs, a day where we spoke a little more than the short conversations at home, we picked on each other, and for me...created a day I will treasure for a long time. My dear sweet Belly Boo...I love you so much, and I am so happy we ventured out on this day.
The day started like any magical day should, at Chick-Fil-A. It was the most crazy long line ever at CFA, and it really could not move because one car held up the whole line. They delivered food to like 15 vehicles behind that one car, Belle and I could not believe that the CFA efficiency machine did not send that person to a parking spot.
Downtown at the museum, we found some parking around Linn Park, which is not the nicest area downtown, but certainly not the worst. The smells were amazing as we made it to the museum where they had 3 latino food trucks. But inside was the goal, so into the art museum we went.
We visited some booths and first tried some great watermelon candy with some chili powder kick. Then we walked upstairs to see what people called art. And our running joke was how does something make it from that folder in Mom's cabinet or the shelf in the garage into the museum of art? Because, really, there was stuff in there that is just junk.
There was a naked lady sculpture outside in the garden area, because that is where the naked ladies hide. We saw one picture that was just completely white...I can't remember if Belle made this up, or if it was the actual name of the piece..."Polar Bear in a Snowstorm". One picture below took up the whole wall, and it was just three colors...How did this make it here?
There were some cool artifacts (some as old as 1600 years) from various asian countries. Belle and I were both fascinated with the tiny carvings in one picture below. In that same area, Belle told me about these small fish handles on the giant set of drawers...so I bent to look at them, and Belle said "DAD!" What? I asked. "You set off the alarm"..."Did you not hear the alarm"...so apparently that pitch is now gone from my hearing...hahaha, as I heard nothing while I was looking at those fish.
Belle found a picture of Jenny Lind, the opera singer featured in "The Greatest Showman". And then things just started to get weird all over...A mariachi band starting playing in the lobby, and they were playing Beatles covers. Ok, that is fine. Then, into the other room, they were teaching people the tango, while playing the Backstreet Boys. Again, I am OK, but what is going on here? And so we left, after seeing way too many sets of tea cups, after seeing a few too many naked folks, after seeing way to much that made no sense at all, after seeing art that someone's momma should have just thrown in the trash, after laughing with Belle over all the crazy things we saw on this day.
And did Belle want one of the yummy desserts from the food truck? Nope, she wanted a milkshake from CFA, and that was no problem for me. When we walked in, she quickly called me to the hallway with the bathrooms to show me the "art" hanging from kids in the local area. We both laughed thinking...some of these could easily be hanging in the Birmingham Museum of Art. I hope for more days like this one with Belle.
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