Ghosts and Angels

I actually got a good night's sleep last night, Hallelujah. I am getting enough things crossed off the pre-trip To Do list so I am not running around like a nitwit.

I went to the apostille office on my lunch hour and got two more apostilles of my passport. I don't understand why they were necessary, but whatever. The agency tells me to get more documents, I get more documents. The paper chase never ends. Fortunately, it doesn't freak me out, as it does some people. I am a professional paper pusher - that's

what lawsuits mostly are, umpteen million pieces of paper. Now, though, I do an awful lot of work on computerized databases and with e-mails.

I called Alesia from the car on my lunch hour and told her I need to go to CVS tonight, and would she like to go? Of course I knew the answer to that - "YES! Are we going right now? Are you coming home??" Her listening skills need some work. "No, AFTER I get home, babydoll, not now." She loves CVS, second only to Kroger.

When we got to CVS tonight, I asked her to find a present for her brother, from her. She found a package with two little solders with little plastic weapons. I said “Your Uncle Bruce would be so proud. That’s a great boy present. And it’s small so it will fit nicely in the suitcase.”

We had a fire drill at work today. I'm chugging along, trying to get everything done, and the stupid drill goes off. Wasted half an hour of my day. I had to walk down 20 flights of steps, stand around outside, then back up 4 flights until I could get an elevator. My legs will be feeling it tomorrow. Thank god I had on my Crocs. One of my fellow paralegals, who always dresses like a fashion model, was wearing 3 inch heels. After the drill, she was complaining about her feet hurting. I said "NOW will you buy some Crocs?" What does it take?! If I had worn those shoes I'd have hidden in the bathroom rather than walk down 20 flights. I used to keep a pair of old tennis shoes at desk, for years, because I never knew when an attorney was going to barge in and say "Dee you have to RUN to the courthouse!"

When I was driving to the accountant's office last night I looked in the rearview mirror at the guy in the truck behind me - what else is there to do when traffic is just sitting - and was jolted. He had on sunglasses, but he looked just like my last boyfriend. I think this

guy's head was a tad smaller, but he really reminded me of Jim. I shuddered. When somebody breaks your heart, you never forget them. I hope it wasn't actually Jim. I like to pretend Jim is dead, that he died slowly and painfully after being tortured to death by a giant asparagus. The biggest fight we ever had was how to cut asparagus.

Bronwyn, Alesia’s main tutor, called me tonight to tell me how well Alesia is doing with her schoolwork. I have been a bit concerned, as she is still slogging through the 5^th grade curriculum, although she’s on 6^th grade math. Bronwyn said the 5^th grade stuff is almost too easy for her. Bronwyn said she thinks Alesia can one day go to college. I almost cried when she said that - I have had my doubts, only because of language and her being so unsophisticated.

Alesia has great powers of reasoning, though. She can reason out things from clues incredibly well. When anything mechanical goes wrong in the house, we give it to her, and she fixes it quickly and well. She may grow up to be an engineer. She is also very creative, though – she showed me a little notebook she made for herself out of 3x5 cards and cut paper, with a beautifully decorated frontpiece. She sewed the pages together like a book. It fits perfectly inside her small purse, which pleased her enormously. She makes little things like that all the time. She made these amazing little jewelry trees to hang her necklaces on, and except for the scotch tape they look very professional.

We tried an experiment tonight with bathing Coco. I got Alesia to put her in the tub. So both got bathed. Alesia is very thorough with bathing Coco – treats her just like a baby. Coco’s dog shampoo smells wonderful. The dog smells better than me, at the moment.

Here’s one thing I will really miss when I am away. Every night, Alesia and I watch a movie. Little Coco comes and gets on the loveseat with me, and snuggles under my chin and goes to sleep. Doesn’t matter how loud the movie is, she sleeps like a little hairy baby. It’s so adorable. Every night, also, after about ten minutes Coco wakes up, and looks watchfully behind me for a few minutes, as though someone is standing there talking to her. I like to think it’s my father, come to check on his girls. I believe in angels.