Melsville: Small Notes and Updates

1.) Two weeks ago, my brother, Jonathan came to our house. I was halfway down the stairs when he stepped into our hallway, and the first thing I noticed was his hair. The flip of gray hair falling to one side of his face would not be denied. It had been maybe two months since I'd seen Jonathan, but I doubt the gray had set in so clearly, so quickly.

I had been wondering when it was going to happen. One hair at a time, my hair has been turning white for a few years. Only very recently did the white hairs start ganging up on me; they are starting to bring in their friends. Jonathan has two colonies of gray hair, the flip and his newly-sprouting beard. I did feel a little sad when I saw him, had, someday, to happen

I can't imagine that Jonathan is too happy. If his hair is falling out, it does not show. Maybe that's enough to keep him happy.

2.) It's Good Friday, and Liam and I just ate breakfast at Rene's Cafe. Liam was pouring sugar from the shaker onto his napkin, so I decided to tell him The Ghandi (sp?) Sugar Story. What someone years ago told me was that a woman had once gone to Ghandi and asked that he tell her young son (who deeply respected Gandi) to stop eating sugar straight out of the bowl. He agreeed, and asked the woman to bring her son to him in two weeks. Two weeks pass, and the mother took her son to see the great man, and he told thhe boy that eating sugar right out the bowl was a bad thing to do. He asked the boy to stop, and the boy agreed to try.

The happy mother asked Ghandi why she had needed two weeks to bring her son to him. "Because." Ghandi had replied, "two weeks ago, I was still eating sugar directly from the bowl."

Liam did not laugh. What he did do was ask me if Ghandi was the man who got nailed to cross. I think we'll be working through Jesus and the Crucifiction all the way through Easter weekend. I thought that we'd been over this one, so I was somewhat mortified. Jamie's an athiest, and I am not comfortable in churches, so I just believe on my on my own. How can I expect my son to have fully taken in Easter?

Liam thinks Ghandi should have a holiday.

3.) I have four tickets, all in a row, to a U2 concert. Good tickets, great ticket, and I don't feel self-concouse about paying $97.50 per ticket. Liam had better understand that he can't expect to have a view so good at every concert that he sees.

4.) Red-haired Sindy dolls keep surfacing on E-Bay, and I still really want one.

Although Emma sees mostly PBS kids' shows, she also sees Sponge-Bob and Olivia on Nickalodian. If she sees a Barbie ad, she sometimes says she wants one. When she says this, I don't say anything.