visit

Yesterday my friend A came to see me with her two daughters. They'd spent the afternoon at Western Horse Expo. When she came to get me, we went to Howe park so the kids could play. I gave her the new zine, and she read it some while we sat under a tree watching the kids play. I read The Year of Magical Thinking some. The younger daughter really wanted ice cream, but surprisingly, there was no one selling ice cream at the park. So after only an hour or an hour and a half, we left for ice cream.

We thought we'd get ice cream at the co-op because A wanted to go to the co-op. So we shopped. I had my own basket. I bought a tomato, three avocados, bananas, some mung beans, some soy yogurts, some vegan mint chocolate chip cookies, and a rice dream ice cream sandwich. We ran into my friends M and S--I hadn't seem M in a long time, and it was nice to see them. I'm not really good with running into people--it makes me feel off-kilter to see someone where I don't expect to see them. It's fortuitous but a little stressful for me. I think I handled it okay. So we paid and left and ate our ice cream in the car.

Then the most exciting event of the evening occurred while we were driving me home. We ran out of gas. Always before, the low on gas light came on, but I guess the light wasn't working, because we ran out. Luckily we were within sight of the gas station and A had a red gas can in the back of the truck. (It's actually a Blazer, which I think of as a truck, but it's actually an SUV, and I heard A refer to it as a car.) So the kids and I stayed in the truck while A walked to the gas station. It was dark. We talked quietly. The younger daughter ate strawberries. The first thing the little daughter said when we ran out of gas and A got out of the truck to get the gas can was "Be careful, Momma," which I thought was a sweet thing to say and very good thinking for a three year old. So then after A got gas, the truck started, which we were all happy about, and they took me home.

The other most exciting event of the evening was when we first got to the park and the little daughter said she loved me. She repeated it a few times, and I was unsure it was directed at me. "Me?" I asked. She nodded, and I said, "But you barely even know me!" which is probably the rudest thing I've said in a long time and definitely the rudest thing I've ever said to someone proclaiming their love for me. Oops.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable outing and good to be social and out after all this cooped up SAT scoring. Thank god for the Western Horse Expo which brought them to town.