So this is weird. I wrote all kinds of heart-felt remembrances yesterday (well, two or three) and as it turned out, no one remembers them but me. Aimee doesn't remember that I told her to run away. Casey doesn't remember that I promised him a story about a mouse detective and never followed through. I have felt guilty for YEARS about these things and it was all for naught. (Well, honestly, I haven't, but what if I had? What a waste that would have been!) I remember that Casey threw a rock and hit either me or Jana on the head, I just don't remember which of us it was. I can remember the feel of the rock hitting my head, just as clearly as I can remember seeing the rock hit Jana's head. (Maybe he threw rocks at both of us?) The other day Mallory said something really funny and I repeated it to Chris and then thirty minutes later neither one of us could remember what it was. Makes me wonder why I try so hard to, you know, be kind and engaging and fun with my kids. They won't remember it anyway. Or they'll remember it all wrong. The inefficiency of memory: an excuse for poor living. Don't worry, I'll probably forget that theory in a matter of seconds.
When they called Pennsylvania, I knew. When they called Ohio, I knew for sure. But I still got chills up and down my spine when they called it for good. And I have tears in my eyes every time I think of his speech. Last night, I attempted to explain to Mallory why this was such a big deal. (This was after a rather undignified few minutes during which she, Phoebe and I danced around the living room chanting Go-bama, Go-bama!) I tried to explain that not so many years ago, black people couldn't even vote, much less become president. She looked at me in great perplexity. She didn't get it. She didn't get racial prejudice. And now...well, it's not that I believe for a second that she and Phoebe will grow up in a world where prejudice doesn't exist. But they do live in a country where, for one election, it was transcended. This is their world now, and their history being made, and I...I'm just elated.
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Mom
Casey
So, now I am curious. Why did you tell me to run away? :)
Clearly there is some confusion about the rock throwing. Whatever actually happened is lost in the mists of time.
Aimee, I, um, don't remember. You got mad at me and Casey for some reason and said you were going to run away. I said, fine, go ahead, so you packed a suitcase and headed off down the dirt road. Either Mom or Dad was driving by and picked you up about half a mile away. I think Casey and I both got in trouble for not stopping you. In my defense, I had just read the Ramona book where Ramona tried to run away and her mother kind of used reverse psychology to make Ramona understand how beloved she was and that was, actually, the effect I was going for, but I obviously didn't implement it very well.
How funny. After all this time, I find out it was your fault.
Hee Hee! Just kidding.