Usually, when my daughter or I see a delivery truck stop in front of our house, we shout up to my husband to come and sign for his package. Today was no exception. When FedEx pulled up, we called to him. This time he did not rush down. I did think it strange that he did not run to the door since I knew he was expecting some books. As I walked over to open the door, my daughter just said, “Mom, the package is for you.”

Hmm. For me? I did not order anything. No sheet music. No school books. Not even an order from eBay.

This “autumnal” bouquet of roses was from my husband. The note said, “Just because I love you.” Aww! No wonder he did not run down the stairs to open the door!

Last week we received a beautiful bouquet of flowers as well. Those were from the parents of our English guest thanking us for our hospitality.

I love flowers but I love them when they come from someone special. I do not personally know Lee’s parents, but I can say... it was a pleasure having her here and it was a special having known her.

Receiving today’s roses was precious to me. Though it was not my husband’s intention, he brought tears to my eyes. Both he and my daughter have a way of doing that.

To you, Ubby: Thank you so much for the roses. I love them but I love you even more! It has been eighteen years, two months, nine days, eight hours, and two minutes of a wonderful time in my life!

“Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.”
~Henry Ward Beckford

 
Some things you just cannot make up...

My friend Liz asked me, on Instant Messenger, to check if I could get into Ebay.com. I was able to, though she was unable to see anything but code. While she tried to fix the problem on her end, I checked out the page and at the bottom was a list of “Featured Items”.

This caught my eye: “Lose 95 lbs by Nov Guaranteed”.

By November? Hmm. That would be nine days from today. Lose ninety-five pounds by then? How?

Sadly, I think I figured it out... someone will come to your house and amputate parts of your body, most probably your limbs. It has to be the answer! Certainly starving yourself isn’t going to make a dent in weight loss... in nine days!

I mentioned that to Liz. Then I thought, what if you already weigh ninety-five pounds?

Then I saw this... “Lose 95 lbs by Dec Guaranteed”.

Oh, much better! They must have realized their mistake!

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."
~Stephen Butler Leacock

 
My husband and I were married four years before we had our daughter and had never taken a separate vacation, nor a business trip, alone until our daughter was eight months old. At that time, the company my husband worked for was sending many of their employees to Australia in shifts of two weeks. We were to be separated for how long? But he had to go and he wanted his new family with him. I, on the other hand, was not thrilled with taking our baby on a twenty-two hour flight to a different time zone for just fourteen days. So we compromised; we both flew to California, first for a two-week vacation and then he took his flight to Australia and I stayed with my sister in Hayward. After all, it was only going to be for two weeks.

Two weeks later he was convincing me to fly Down Under because the company had extended everyone’s stay for an indefinite time and he wanted us with him. No more missing us. We also both felt quite sad that our daughter learned to walk on the very day she turned ten months old and he missed her first steps.

The first month and a half in Melbourne were quite upsetting for me. My baby developed severe “nappy” rash because she was allergic to the baby food and the chemicals in the diapers. I was unable to make her food so she had to eat pre-made baby food . We were living in a tiny apartment with a tiny crib that barely fit in the bedroom. Though the Australian people were, and are, some of the friendliest in the world, I was miserable and did not want for my daughter to celebrate her first birthday in a different country without any family members present. We flew home. I was determined not to go back.

But I did go back. My husband’s bosses promised to send diapers from the United States and also set us up in a wonderful two-bedroom apartment. They actually paid $180 to ship a package of eighty-eight diapers each time!

I used to take long walks with my daughter along the Yarra River in Melbourne. Everyone would constantly stop us and hold conversations with me just to hear my accent! How funny was that! Me! An accent!

I learned all the Australian terminology for things: flat, cooker, pram, nappy, capsicum, fillets, g’day mate, billabong, joey, and others. The thing was that living in Australia was not that much different than living in the United States. Both countries are about the same age and the city was as modern as any in the United States; smaller, but just as cosmopolitan. When it was time to go back, in November, I was not happy about it. We had adjusted to everything and had many friends.

I always remember living in Australia with much fondness. We purchased a bottle of wine that we were told would not be ready for drinking until the year 2008. I cannot believe there are only four years left!

We have not gone back since. My daughter only has pictures of her feeding kangaroos as proof that she was ever there.. that, and her stamped passport.

"All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it."
~Samuel Johnson

 
This weekend we had a guest staying with us. Lee was stopping in New York for a couple of days before her trip back home to England. She had been here with a special program that sends European students to “America” as camp counselors. Camp is where she met Liz, our dear friend in Indiana who mentioned that Lee was coming to New York. I then offered our home and touring services to her.

So that is how we spent our weekend. It started with her arrival Friday evening. I prepared dinner and invited our friend, Matt. Dinner was good, but the conversation was wonderful. We all laughed quite a bit.

On Saturday, my daughter and I took her for a tour of the city. My husband was nice enough and drove us. Lee wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, (gosh, I hate that name), and the Empire State Building. The weather was perfect and was noticed by several thousand other tourists who in turn were in the same places we were. That meant, sadly, that we spent a couple of hours just doing what I call the “Disney World thing”... waiting in long lines. One hour's wait to pass through security just to board the ferry to the Statue and one hour to get on the elevator up to the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building! Had it not been for the time spent in a queue, we could have taken Lee to visit Times Square and the Rockefeller Center area.

She did, however, have a hotdog from a street vendor. You cannot go to New York City and leave without having a vendor prairie dog... I mean hotdog! We also went to Lindy's and had cheesecake. Not the same, or as good as, Junior’s cheesecake, but more famous. After a full day of touring and plenty of walking, we were grateful that my husband drove back to the city to pick us up.

Sunday was malling day. I had to take Lee to “the” mall... Roosevelt Field. That is the biggest mall on Long Island so, of course, that involved more walking. I do not like shopping, but this was not really shopping.... it was touring. In other words, I had a nice time. Lee is a funny girl and had my daughter and I laughing a lot. It was a nice way to pass the time. Matt came over that evening and we again had a wonderful time talking and watching Life of Brian a Monty Python movie, and other Monty Python television episodes.

Unfortunately, her stay with us ended yesterday. I drove her to the airport. We hope she will come back for a longer visit. There are many more places to visit and foods to eat.

It is always sad having to say goodbye to someone you end up caring for. I am glad she did stay with us, even for a very short time. Since I am the official collector of memories, I came out with quite a few. We are now a bit richer for having known her and having shared happy times with her.

“Today's special moments are tomorrow's precious memories.”
~Unknown

 
I awoke this morning to a barrage of sneezing. I had not had my eyes open for more than five seconds and I was already reaching for a tissue. This is my life once allergy season begins in September.

All of a sudden I wondered, why don’t I sneeze while I am sleeping? All my life I have had these allergies and just this morning my curiosity got the better of me. I wondered at what point of the day does my brain tell my nose “no more sneezing for today”. I know that when I have a cold or the flu, a cough wakes me up, or even keeps me from falling asleep, but I have never been kept awake or woken up by a sneezing fit.

Well, I did find the reason by going online. I do that a lot; always have. Once, when my daughter was three years old, while on a walk around the block, we happened upon a swarm of ants. We stopped to watch them carrying food items to their nest. She then asked me if ants had teeth. Not being quite comfortable with the internet back then (dial-up, you know), we took a trip to the library to look it up. It is what I do and always have.

So why don’t we sneeze while we are asleep? Here is a very nice answer to this question, if you want to know:

Sneezing is a protective reflex in response to a stimulus in the nasal mucosa. The stimulus has to reach the brainstem center before the brain's neurons trigger a response via neurotransmitters. During sleep, especially in REM sleep, the activity of many of the brain's systems declines and the reflex arc is not completed because the neurotransmitters are not activated. So sneezing doesn't occur despite the stimulus.
(Thanks to NewScientist.com)

Now I want to know why is it that I get sneezing fits while I am driving? Hmm!

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
~Albert Einstein

PS Ants, as all insects, have a mouthpart called mandible which cut and crush the food. Only vertebrates have teeth as we know them. :)

 
Yesterday I caught one of my favorite movies on HBO... Steel Magnolias. It was already half over and close to the famous part: the funeral scene. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I could not help it and I cried... and I laughed. To me, this scene is one of the most memorable scenes in moviedom and all the actors were wonderful.

I love this movie for the memorable quotes and quips throughout. I love a movie that can make me laugh and I love a movie that can make me cry. This one hits a homerun on both. But I also have a beautiful memory associated with it.. the first time I saw it.

My husband and I were flying back to Australia with our one year old daughter. As always, she behaved so quietly that no one even knew there was a baby on board. She sat on our laps, taking turns going from my lap to her dad’s. We were able to enjoy the movie since she entertained herself with assorted toys.... until the scenes when Julia Roberts’ character, Shelby, is dying. It is then that my daughter decided to stand on my husband’s lap and play with his glasses and nose. She was actually trying to bite his nose during the funeral scene! So we were all crying. I could hear the sobs from everyone on the plane. My daughter was giggling just trying to reach for her father’s nose. Luckily, the funny part came along just in time as she got a nip and my husband had to laugh at both her and the scene in the movie. The timing was perfect!

To this date, I cannot watch that movie without remembering the nose biting attempt. I cannot decide whether I love the memory of the nose biting because I was watching the movie or whether I love the movie because of the memory. In either case, I am left with a warm feeling in my heart.

"Laughter, through tears is my favorite emotion."
~Truvy (Dolly Parton) in Steel Magnolias

"I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us."
~Charles Dickens