I’ve been accused a lot lately of being… gasp… an Extrovert. This weekend, and my response to it, proves that I am not. Wednesday night I had a lovely reunion with my old housemates from Fairview Street. Thanksgiving, I was at Grampa Lizzie’s at noon, where my mother arrived 4 hours late because her husband was waiting for her at SFO and she was at Oakland (from Granny’s funeral), and he hadn’t call anyone of her friends or family within the last few days of being in the Bay Area. She had asked everyone to warn him. Or maybe it was just the last 36 hours. So, that was kind of upsetting. At dinner, I was thankful for life, the weather in California, and that we all have so many options. Yeah, I’m less thankful now (that it’s pouring rain).
Thus, I was 2 hours late to Laura’s, where there was a luscious, family-style Thanksgiving. I got there just after everyone had sat down anyway. They set up a table in the porch room where Charlie reminded me had once been a piñata on another infamous night celebrating Laura’s birthday. The laundry machines were covered with a tablecloth and used as a sideboard and the candlelight reflected off the glass. I bet we looked really cool from outside. Instead of giving thankful, each person drew someone’s name and we said what we liked about them. I drew Niki and said she was a good dancer, had a great sense of humor and a vibrant way of living her life. Elizabeth (Laura’s mom) said that I was smart and when things don’t go my way, I am always confident it’ll come out right in the end and then it does. I also made the best pecan pie ever in the universe.
Eric and I had a lovely, low-key day on Friday of eating leftovers, a leisurely walk around the neighborhood, and, as always, good conversation. Friday night, Eric was singing the Messiah in Cupertino, and I went to Sam and Jess’s for a mellow party.
Saturday, Alison and I went hiking in Marin County – some park in Ross, I forgot the name. Alison wanted to go there because, unlike the other parks in Marin, they allow dogs. Traffic was terrible (in Al and Jo’s Prius), and when we got to the park, we had to wait about 45 minutes for a parking place to open up. The people waiting in front of us were meeting a friend who arrived by herself and had already parked (why they couldn’t carpool even from nearby on-street parking meant, well, everyone had to wait that much longer), told us there was parking “like a mile” down the road. (When we checked, it was much further than a mile. The on-street parking is all marked “no parking Saturday, Sunday and holidays” because, of course, the people who live in the neighborhood don’t want to be inconvenienced by people who can’t afford to live there coming to enjoy it. The other thing I thought was interesting was the use of “like a mile”, which meant to them “too far to walk” but to us “very close”, but ultimately was “too far to walk”. Marinners are annoying.)
Anyway, it was beautiful. I took some nice pictures. And finally, it completely wore me out.
Sunday morning, I met DeAnne and Ryan at the Exploratorium. We had a coffee at the café and (Ryan) did the spiral color thingy. We asked him to show me his favorite displays, but he wasn’t interested. Instead, we took a walk along the beach at Crissy Field. Ryan played on the rocks and in the sand, and DeAnne and I talked.
The impetus for this visit was those Monterey Bay Aquarium tickets I ended up with. I sent out an email to a bunch of people I thought might want them. I was surprised by the number of replies. Alison pointed out that I expressed my politics with my choice of who to give them to; I chose the single, freelancing mom. And yeah, I bribe people to be friends with me.
I went home for 30 minutes between engagements, ate some delicious thanksgiving leftovers from Laura’s, and headed back out to meet Mitja (a friend from HS), Elysia, and Citrus at the Asian Art Musuem. I was collecting museum stickers that day. There was this really cute little guy there who carved Chinese character names into stone stamps (I have one, but I am not sure what it says exactly), and they got really excited about having one made for them. It takes about an hour to carve; so, we looked at the exhibition in the meantime. I was surprised at how small it was for the $10 entry fee. But I particularly like the Shivas with all those arms and, of course, the ones involving images of sex.
It was their last day in California, and Mitja needed a burrito. I was concerned about taking a 4 month old to an unsavory place like Cancun at 6th and Market, but they didn’t have a problem with it. Citrus is a perfect little angel. She’s also been sick. (They were at Children’s Hospital in Oakland for 5 hours the other day.) We had burritos, which a homeless lady helped us finish off, scooping the wet leftovers into a brown paper bag. I got to hold Citrus as we walked to their car. She drooled and wiped her runny nose in the cold onto my black scarf.
My friends here are all obsessed with “attachment parenting” where you keep the baby touching you as much as possible, breast feed, have the baby sleep in bed with you, etc.. I was surprised to learn that both these guys and my friend Kalyani in NYC don’t seem to be doing it. It doesn’t seem to be on their radar. I mean, it’s none of my business how other people raise their children. I am just a casual observer noticing that my east coast friends and my west coast friends parent in completely different ways.
I got home to realize that, while my phone was on silent, Tam had called wondering about our plans for the night. I called back to say that I needed some time, which ended up being longer than planned bc I fell asleep accidentally. Tam was going to India on Tuesday for a month and a wedding. But ultimately, we had a low-key visit involving hot water (bc it has gotten really cold). She sent me home with a grocery bag of leftovers (most of which I ate today; I was hungry! She, like me, hates to waste food).
I don’t regret a minute of it, but I slept for like a million years every night since then, and still didn’t have energy to do anything at all. I bought some things at the local stores, and partly bc of the rain and partly bc I am lazy, didn’t even make it to yoga. I did mop my kitchen and make some turkey soup from the carcass Laura kindly let me have. You know how I feel about making soup.
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