September 2, 2005
So far, the Labor Day weekend has been very nice.
I left work early and picked up Alesia from school. She got out early for the holiday, which caused me some hassle, but then I found out the office was closing early anyway, so I just took the afternoon off. There was nobody there anyway.
Mom hadn’t been out of the house all week, so after I got Alesia home we got in Granny’s car and headed off to the Atlanta History Center, a wonderful museum in midtown. Alesia really enjoyed it, and I think Mother did, too. She recognized everything in the World War II exhibit. It was fun to watch Alesia discover everything, and there are things kids can touch, huge photos, and hand-cranked slideshow things the kids can do themselves. Alesia was intrigued with it all. I hope to foster in her a love of history, like my father did with us.
We left there and went by Eatzi’s, a fun gourmet food takeout place. For dinner, Mother had rare roast beef, shrimp salad, green salad, and a potato latke. I had crab cakes and a latke. Alesia had a lot of shrimp salad, a latke, some green salad. For dessert we all split a large tiramisu – I don’t know why people get so excited about that, it’s like cheesecake and bread pudding with some sherry thrown in, in my opinion not all that great.
When we got back, Mother took a nap, Alesia rode her bike, and I paid bills. Alesia helps me with bills by stuffing envelopes and putting on the stamps and return address stickers.
We watch a movie most nights, once Alesia has finished homework.
Our movie tonight was “Only You,” a cute romantic comedy set in Italy. Alesia refuses to look at the screen when characters kiss – or “swap spit” as my dad liked to say. Just to show her what immature really looks like, I acted like my own adolescent self and every time the characters kissed I slumped down on the sofa, scowling, and covered my eyes, saying loudly every few seconds “Is it over YET?!” Alesia thought that was very funny. Granny told her it was how I acted at her age.
I had a reputation when I visited the orphanage of being very funny. I liked to play Simple Simon with the kids, or other games where I could make funny faces or voices. It was all in fun and the girls were so cute. One day, I goofed – I had all the kids doing the Hokey Pokey. They all got in a circle and stuck their right foot in, shook it all about, etc. They were all looking at me like “This is bizarre, this American song about shaking body parts! What’s wrong with this woman?!”
Lesson Learned: The Hokey Pokey does not translate to other countries…