|
august 2, 2000. 11:26 p.m.
Yawn. Mom & I spent the whole day tooling around from place to place, discharging a number of duties & social obligations. We ate lunch with a couple of her colleagues from the hospital; unfortunately, since they all work together, they really like gossiping about people & situations that I don't know about. Very boring, especially with the baby asleep. Yes, there was also a baby there, 4 month old Cassandra, who was just as cute as a bag of buttons. Obviously I can't swear to this, but I thought she looked a lot like my old baby pictures. Change my dark hair for her ginger floss and there you have it. Her mom's a bit strange in a totally endearing way - she brings her bulldog cross Tara with her and the baby everywhere they go, and often refers to the dog and the baby as "sissy." Oddball, but cute. Maybe it's the Newfoundland accent that makes it so appealing.
~~ { * } ~~
I have some...uh...mixed feelings about certain members of my family. For example, I often found it difficult to get along with my zia (read: aunt) in the past, oh 23 years, for various reasons. She's a bit excitable and I'm just not terribly good at smoothing things over. Lately, however, I have found the key. She's a talkative woman, but she tends to get bogged down in negative details sooner or later. My trick is to distract her with a completely unrelated question. That way, I flatter with my interest yet deflect her from anger. Everybody wins. I discovered this last time we got together, when we took her in for knee surgery. Ever since, I've lost my feeling of dread around her.
Fast forward to yesterday, when her daughter (my cousin) mentioned that she'd like to see me at the house before the wedding. I didn't know what to expect. Was I about to receive a bulky present? A lecture on boring tradition? A caffeine-free pop and a handful of chocolate almonds? What?
My nana's wedding ring. That's what it was.
I am overwhelmed, not theatrically, but inside. My nana died during my first year of highschool, but she's still talked about as if she was here with us last month. There are dozens of pictures of her in my zia's house, chosen more for her image than any artistic qualities. I mean, it's serious. Even my dad couldn't figure out why I was given such a thing. Maybe it's because of the respect he's given in my family. Maybe it's because I'm the last granddaughter to get married. Or maybe - and this is a popular theory at my house - maybe it's because no one wanted to give it to my bitchy cousin Jess. Hard to say.
|
