Forestalling the Inevitable

My son is soon going to nag me about my dearth of activity here. He will point out that if I do not write, I cannot call myself a writer. I must auth to be an author. And so I am writing.

I have no plan here. I'm freewheeling without a topic. That's because I truly don't have a topic.

I spent a wonderful week with my sister and her friend here at my house. We went to tea at a real teahouse because that is a "chick" thing and there were some "chicks" – well perhaps old hens, but still – here to not annoy any testosterone driven human to distraction. We had tea. It was fun.

I then went up to Ohio to offset the time my sister graciously gave to me here. We worked every day and played while we worked, after we worked, and even before we worked. We went out to eat several times. I learned that Chinese food is great with cannoli for dessert.

I learned that renting a car for a one-way trip is prohibitively expensive. I got a lot of sage and imperious "Yes, of course" type comments when I mentioned this. I wish someone had yes-of-coursed me prior to my journey but I can't alter than now. I found a cheap flight home.

I got back home three days later than I expected and it was hot and humid here. It had cooled off in Ohio and I had been verging on cold for the last few days having brought only clothing for hot weather. That was cured immediately after leaving the plane.

I've gotten back to writing in other places and now I need to write something here. That way I can claim to be a writer.

What I need to do now is find a job. I hate looking for a job. I'm old and cranky. I know I'm old and cranky. I'm capable and old and cranky. Many people seem to prefer hiring young and incapable and perky. And they then complain when Mondays find them without a full staff. I do not party on weekends and show up for work whenever I'm scheduled. But I'm old.

I also may need to buy a car. My car is making a funny noise. I mentioned the funny noise months ago but was successfully ignored by the guy in charge of the cars. When that same guy drove the car for some distance – lo and behold, it was making a funny noise. The noise may be a symptom of an expensive problem. Therefore, I may be buying a new car.

I'm also trying to readjust to the boredom of my life. Perhaps if I got a job, that part would be ameliorated. Perhaps I would just be filling my time. But what have I got an abundance of? Time.

I believe this is enough rambling and before I get too cranky, I should stop. And so I will.

Girl Time

I have just spent one of the most fun weeks of the summer. My sister and her friend came to visit. We did girl things for a whole week. It was so much fun.

We went to the outlet mall and didn't have to look at men's clothing and I didn't need to feel like I was wasting time looking at women's clothing or shoes. I could browse the book store and not feel like there was any impatient person waiting for me to do something real.

We celebrated Morgan's birthday again. It was really her birthday this time. It was her third birthday party for her first birthday. It's difficult when the grandparents are all scattered. But it does mean lots of chances to put cake on one's head.

We had every intention of going to the ocean and dipping our toes in the salt water which is great fun for fresh water people. However, it was rainy or bad timing or simply not on the agenda until it was too late to go. So we saw the Atlantic Ocean, but didn't step in the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, earlier this year I was sailing on the Pacific Ocean and never really quite touched it, so I think it counts.

We went to a teahouse for lunch. It was great fun doing that. The tearoom was quaint, the rest of the house was three stories of treasures, and best of all, the teas and food were stupendous. We began with our fancy teas, had a small salad with homemade dressings, and then had pasta dishes that came with a side of fruit salad. There were 22 different types of fruit in the fruit salad. The desserts looked fabulous but we had already eaten too much.

And so, we went back to the teahouse the next day for dessert and tea. The desserts were as good as the meal had been and were absolutely huge. There would have been no way that we could have eaten a dessert after eating a lunch that came with a fruit salad that had twenty-two fruits in it.

We browsed books stores and the library. We made lists of authors and books we hadn't yet read so that when we went to the books stores, we would know what was safe to buy. I just hate to buy a book I've already read. I also hate to buy a book out of order when the books are part of a series; I want to read them in order of publication. It was nice to see I was not alone in my lunacy.

We read books in companionable silence. And we talked for hours on end. We shared stories. We shared skills. We shared laughter.

It was so much fun that the idea of Pam and Rose leaving and my life returning to the everyday nothingness that it has become was just too overwhelming. And so, I snuck into the back seat and came back to Ohio with them. We dropped Rose off at home and Joe was so glad to have his wife back.

Now the next plan is to sneak off and share some time with all three sisters together. We should manage to laugh and tell stories. And most importantly, get that sisterly dose of love. That love that springs from and entire lifetime of sharing.

Sisters are one of God's best ideas. I'm so grateful for mine.