Real, Great, Irreplaceable

Good friends tell you "pish-posh, no worries" when you burn the lasagna. Real, great, irreplaceable friends tell you they prefer the burnt lasagna, in fact, they ask beg their Italian nonnies to scorch the top layer just as you have done! The latter kind of friends probably even saw you walk away when there were 4 minutes left on the oven timer WHICH IS HALF A CENTURY IN LASAGNA YEARS and you thought it still needed to crisp some more and they said nothing. Then they gobble it up without flinching, and change the subject to Celebrity Haircuts, which is possibly the only category in Jeopardy! you will ever sweep. We had just such friends - the real, great, irreplaceable kind - visit this past weekend. Jose and Maria are friends that another dear friend lent me. Selfish person that I am, I decided to not give them back but rather to keep them and treasure them and now they have a Princess Gabriela who is not only my friend but the friend of Baby Girl, as well. In Baby Land, that means that Princess Gabriela tolerates head to kneecap contact, which is good since that is the only kind Baby Girl knows how to make. Whenever Baby Girl sees something moving that possesses two legs, she immediately wants to rub her head on its knee, and lick it like a postage stamp. Out of the drooly mouths of babes.

I am looking forward to moving Baby Girl into her dorm room with Princess Gabriela in 2025. Until then, I shall lament that these friends do not live closer.

Reviews at Random

It's leaf peepin' season here in New England, the BoSawx are in the championships, Baby Girl is helping us clean the floor with all of her crawling, and we've got visitors in tow for a weekend of good weather, cider drinkin' and possibly a pumpkin patch or two. What's not to love about this glorious season? Here are a few other things I'm McLovin':

- The Asparagus White Bean Pesto Tart over at Vegan Yum Yum. Mine needed a touch more salt, but let me know how yours turns out, will you?

- Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote. The syllabus for one of my classes calls for both, and I dig these literati, I really do.

- Making birthday presents from hand. Pictured is a bulletin board I made for a 1st birthday girl. She thought there was a present inside, but it's cool, maybe it will be the gift that keeps giving (and being unwrapped) :)

- Building forts in the living room. You gotta start 'em young.

- Going apple picking. Or just sitting on the wet grass and watching all the other kids pick apples and having a barrel of laughs instead of a barrel of apples and not payin' no mind.

- Getting invited to fall open houses and being welcomed with an 8 month-old, especially because there would be another 8 month old there ~ holla! (Please disregard way Baby Girl is straddling J-Man).

- Trick-or-treating in the comforts of home.

October 7

If you have met me in person, you know that I have a lot of nervous energy and introductions are completely overwhelming to me and, in the event that there is a small shred of commonality that I can grasp in the moment we meet, I will totally blurt it out OH WOW, YOU HAVE EATEN A BANANA BEFORE, TOO?!? I came by this from a few different routes, the first being my mother who has been known to turn 14 shades of red when she gets flumoxxed. The later route I traveled in high school at the all-girls Catholic compound where, it has been mentioned, I spent a lot of time writing my senators and adding glitter to posters for peace rallies and NOT honing skills in talking to anyone that had facial hair. Or would have facial hair.

One person that helped me to overcome my abiding fear in talking to the stubblefaced is someone I met my sophomore year of high school. For the next three years, every time I encountered this person, we would have the same conversation. It was so reliably scripted, it put me at such ease as a maladapted schoolie. It went like this:

"Hey! Kendra! Do you remember me? We met at --" "Yeah, the sophomore dance! Yes, thank you again for driving me home! [HA! INSERT NERVOUS LAUGHTER HERE]." "Ha, yeah, good to see you!" "Yeah, you were awesome in the play!" "Aw, well thank you soo much for coming!"

Sophomore Dance, March 1996

Thank you, Nick, for helping me to speak to fellers. Happy Birthday!

***

EDIT: There's another little boy who had a birthday today. His parents named him Isaac. He lived only 16 minutes and the prayers of many were answered in that his parents got to hold him while he was alive; all indications pointed to the fact that he might not make it that far. Let's say a prayer for his parents Stacy and Spencer that God will grant them a heaping portion of comfort in this time.