August 01, 2002 : simply a good day

Today was a lazy day. Jessica and I, sans her fiancee Eric, caught up on our girl talk. She had decided to spend the day puttering around with me, helping me do laundry (consisting of needed items, like underwear) and we fixed ourselves a gigantic lunch.

Jessica and I have the same general feelings on a lot of things, and we always seem to have good conversations, whether they be on long drives to Kansas City (see the journal entry from June) or over coffee. It is her type of friendship that I value most in my circle of friends. I have the pleasure of having several such friends, and they, along with my dearest Eva, keep me sane and mentally stretched.

Among our usual topics of our upbringing and our families, we chatted about her upcoming wedding. It's not actually a pressing issue, but it's something fairly close at hand. Basically a year off. Not about dresses or colors of shoes and not about how many bridesmaids or who should sing what sort of hymn, just about a wedding which we dubbed a celebration. Not your typical, run of the mill wedding with a unity candle and vows said by a nervous preacher to an audience of just-as-nervous onlookers/witnesses dressed in their Sunday best. No, it's going to be a celebration of Jessica and Eric who are tying the not for so many reasons beyond wanting to become husband and wife.

Not that my opinion matters much when it comes to weddings, but it made me feel special in a sort of way for her to ask my opinion on anything of the sort. I'm a lesbian in a committed relationship who has had limited involvement in weddings in general. Since most of my closest friends are of my "sort" I've been left out of the bridesmaid extravaganza, the wedding planning, the bachelorette parties, and weddings in and of themselves. And yet she wanted my opinion, and I gave it freely, and we shot ideas back and forth. We just happened to do it without pouring over 5 copies of glossy Modern Bride magazines.

Not knowing how to add this to the entry, on a quite humorous note, while at the laundry mat helping Jessica out with her digital camera, we happened on pictures from her vacation and a few were of Jessica sunbathing...topless. Granted the image size was about an 1 inch squared, as it is the screen on the back of a camera, it took a second to soak in and became quite the joke of the day and on into the evening. Europeans may think this is odd, but I would venture to say that most good-friends back in the states really haven't seen the breasts of their good-friends. And the shock/humor would be just as entertaining.

After coming back from doing laundry, I wrote a quick email to my mother in reply to what color of sandals to get Eva and I for Christmas. The sandals were supposed to be a surprise for Eva, but while in Perugia, Italy, at an internet cafe, she found out by reading over my shoulder. Something along the lines of an email from my mother that could be paraphrased like this: Hope you are having a great vacation. We're going to go to China next spring. What size of sandal does Eva need? Daddy and I are excited about coming to Europe again in November. Hi to Eva. Love Mom."

Oh well. :)

While writing this email concerning shoe color (the original color choice was sold out) I dropped the news that money was going to be tight this fall and that perhaps we should combine a November visit with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I was nervous about her reply. Would she be angry? Would she be hurt and think that I didn't value family time around the holidays? And so, at regular intervals during heated debates (Eva and Jessica ganging up on me and my notions) I checked the email.

During one trip to the bathroom, during a discussion on "good looking" people of the world and whether or not they are deemed "good looking" by society and media or whether or not "good looking" qualities are innate, I got the email.

"Daddy and I agree that if you want to celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas while we are there, it is not a problem. If you see that you can come for Christmas, let us know. I understand Eva wanting to wait until the weather is nice. Maybe you can come for a few days at Christmas, and the two of you come late March or early April. We leave for China April 16. Maybe you can come for your birthday; that would be fun and the weather should be nice. Whatever works for you, works for us."

Wow.

I couldn't believe it.

When we are younger we think of our parents being mature; mature in the sense that they are older and wiser. Not just in that they don't spit when they are on bridges or tops of buildings, but just parent-like. And then when we get older and more mature as adults, just when we think we are stepping into the circle of our parents, they impress us still. It's not that they ever stand still. They are always growing and changing. It's amazing.

So in other words, it meant a lot to me. I wrote my mother back and told her how much I had needed that. That how now, since the pressure was off, we would probably be able to save even more money. :)

IN THE NEWS:
In California, two teenage girls, Tamera Brooks and Jaqueline Marris, who were abducted at gunpoint early Thursday from a lovers' lane (they were with their boyfriends) were rescued 100 miles away after their kidnapper crashed his getaway car and was shot to death by sheriff's deputies, authorities said.

WHAT I ATE TODAY:
- 2 pieces of crunchy toast with spicy mustard and a few sprinkles of cheese
- 1 ham sandwich
- 1 serving of pumpkin and tomato soup
- 2 small side salads consisting of lettuce and tomato
- 4 pieces of some strange caramel and chocolate candy that Jessica bought while we were doing laundry.
- 1 serving of my now famous casserole: corkscrew pasta, beans, carrots, cream of chicken and pork
- 1/3 of a green melon I thought was a cantaloupe, tasted like one, but looked like a honey dew.