Progress

I was working as a chipwich vender on the boardwalk in the summer of 1984 when Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. "They'll never win," a friend shrugged dismissively, but having a woman on the ticket made a big difference to me.

As such, I was heartbroken eight years ago when Hillary Clinton lost the nomination to Barack Obama, and it took me a while to get behind him (hello Bernie Sanders supporters). John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate that year did pique my interest just a tad, but crazy is crazy no matter how many x chromosomes you have. And now, tonight, a major political party in our country has nominated a woman to be their candidate for president, and I am elated.

No matter that we are behind Sri Lanka, India, Israel, Argentina, Central African Republic, United Kingdom, Portugal, Bolivia, Dominica, Iceland, Norway, Malta, Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Ireland, Bangladesh, France, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, New Zealand, Guyana, Switzerland, Panama, Latvia, Finland, Senegal, Indonesia, Sao Tome, Serbia, Peru, Macedonia, Ukraine, Germany, Liberia, Jamaica, Chile, South Korea,  Moldova, Croatia, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, Brazil, Kosovo, Thailand, Denmark, Malawi, Slovenia, Latvia, Namibia, all of whom actually elected women to be their leaders.

We'll get there.

What Heat Wave?

Even in the hottest days of summer it is possible to find relief in the early morning hours when the sun has not yet risen above the trees, and a warm breeze lifts the chill from your air-conditioned skin as you and your dog make your way slowly up the empty hill with only the birds and cicadas for company. 

You Have Arrived at Your Destination

Today was the point in their annual visit when we had to share Richard and Annabelle with the other side of their family, and so up the Parkway, around the Beltway, and down River Road to Nanny's house we rode.

It was a merry ride, partially because the kids were excited to see not only their grandmother, but also their aunt, uncle, and three cousins visiting from Arizona, and partially because this year, they would be returning to us for a day or two before heading home.

It was also a short ride, and we played our favorite car game, I'm Going on a Picnic, until we were almost there and Heidi began to navigate using the phone. "Turn right in 1.8 miles," she told me.

"Turn right in 1.8 miles," Richard repeated. "Didn't I sound just like a GPS?!" he asked.

"That was pretty good," I admitted. "I think you may have a future in GPS voice work!" I teased him.

"I don't know," Heidi said. "What other accents or voices can you do? People like that feature for their devices."

"Yeah," I agreed, "like can you do it in a YouTuber accent?"

"What??" he said.

"You know, like, Hey guys! Today we're going to Nanny's and we have to turn right in 1.8 miles. It's going to be AWESOME! So let's get started!" I offered.

"Or what about the Backyardigans style?" I asked. "Can you do that one?"

We're going to Nanny's, gotta turn right in a mile! we sang.

"Now, what about the bunny in Secret Life of Pets?" I suggested.

"They're turning right in 1.8 miles! Get 'em!" Annabelle said in a pretty good imitation.

"How about Batman?" Heidi said, "Oh look! We're here."

Fort Richard

Richard has been a little frustrated that we moved our furniture since the last time he was here. Our old arrangement made it easy to build a cozy den behind the couch, and last summer he spent hours there playing on his iPad. He even slept in it at Thanksgiving.

Oh, he gave it a good try, but with nothing to drape the blankets over, the first fort he built was generally unsatisfactory. In fact I didn't even think he was in there this afternoon when I told Annabelle that it might be time to take it apart. He popped his head out at the end of the conversation and shrugged. "Go ahead," he told me and headed upstairs. That made me a little sad. The day is coming when Richard will set aside his fort-building, but I was sorry to hasten it.

Sitting on the couch a little while later, I tried to problem-solve. We had looked for alligator clips to fasten blankets to our bookshelves the day before without success. What else could we do? I pondered the puzzle when a Eureka! moment struck. There was a length of climbing rope with carabiners at each end in the car. We got it years ago in Maine to allow Isabel to run the clothesline (instead of running away!) in the yard of our rental house.

Richard and I went out and fetched it and then fastened one end to the curtain rod and the other to the railing separating the dining room from the living room. A few cushions and several pillows and blankets later Richard had built a nifty little tent fort into which he crawled happily.

Against the Odds

"Oh no! I lost my earring!" Annabelle cried at the pool this afternoon. The other three of us frowned. We knew that she treasured those earrings because Aunt Emily had just given them to her the other night, but we also knew that she had been all over that pool in the last hour and a half.

"I'll get my goggles," I told her, "but I'm not hopeful."

Annabelle's face fell.

"I can hold my breath a looooong time!" her brother Richard proclaimed. "I'm sure I can find it!" he assured her as he swam to get his face mask.

Heidi, already in goggles, began to search without a word.

The water was warm and blue in the shade as I made my first pass, and filtered light dappled the pool in fishnet patterns as I scanned for a tiny blue glass flower. It had been a long time since I had swum purposefully under water, but regulating my breath and flotation came back to me as I kicked along in the shallows. I had not noticed how many little bits of leaves and bugs littered the bottom, but knowing the odds were against us did not make a difference. In the emotional waves of the last few days, the clarity of searching the aquamarine silence for a single, concrete thing, no matter how small, was comforting, and I wasn't surprised at all when I found it.

Poolosophical

There was a little sibling bickering at the pool this afternoon between Richard and Annabelle, followed by a philosophical discussion about treating people the way you want to be treated, rather than as they have treated you.

"You must want me to grab that noodle right out of your hand!" said Richard to his sister, "Since that what you did to me!"

"You must want me to hit you in the face with the noodle!" replied Annabelle, "Since that's what you did to me!"

"No no no," I told them both calmly.  "That's a rule for each of us to follow for ourselves, not to use to judge others."

"I want people to treat me the way I want to be treated," Richard said innocently. "How do I know by how they're acting that that's not what they want, too?"

He's a smart one, that kid. "Have you ever heard of reverse psychology?" I asked him.

And that was another conversation.

Batchin It

Heidi's been out of town the last couple of days, back in Buffalo to visit with her folks and brother while I stayed home to take care of the house, the garden, and the cat and dog (in reverse order of concern!). It turns out my version of the single life involves eating at the kitchen counter and falling asleep on the couch with the TV on.

Thank goodness she'll be back tonight!