Good times with the fam
Today was awesome. Lots of fun and wonderful stuff happened...
The day started off on a good note as I woke up to discover my mother in the process of baking apple crisp (thanks mom!! :). We all hung out with my sister, planning trips to visit colleges over the summer, before splitting up to go our separate ways: my mom gardening, dad fixing something outside, and Amy and I doing some more college-brainstorming and getting dressed for a trip down to Port Jefferson for some shopping.
Before we reached our destination, however, we picked up a fruit platter from Stop & Shop to bring to the nurses at the hospital where my mother works (and I used to volunteer). It was very very nice to see the ladies on my mother's floor, many of whom I've known (by sight, at least) for years. My mom's friend Dorothy, who is just about the nicest person alive, gave me a going-away card and a present of chopsticks and a little bowl to take with me to China. Dorothy is from Taiwan, and shares my mother's fear of the unsanitary conditions of the Mainland. It was so unbelievably nice of her to give me the present -- I'm definitely making her a thank you right away!!
After that, Amy and I headed down to Port Jefferson, where we picked up a bunch of awesome books at the "Good Times Bookstore," which is very sadly closing after many years in business. One upside of this is that all the books were 70% off, so we got seven books for $17.82. After all that book-shopping, we were a little hungry, so we picked up some wraps from Tigerlily (this awesome vegetarian/vegan/alternative food place) and some frappuccinos at Starbucks and read for a little while. After a stop at the Gap (where Amy acquired a cute skirt and two awesome tops, and I tried on some adorable Bermuda shorts which were sadly not available in my size in the color I wanted), we walked around down by the docks for a while: picturesque, if absurdly windy, as I am sure the pictures can attest.
Yeah, it was pretty windy.
Anyway, after that, we went to Staples to get some school stuff for Amy (for her classes next year... I think my deep and abiding love of office supplies must be a familial trait). I exercised extreme self-restraint and purchased nothing, although this is probably only because we didn't hit the highligher aisle. We drove home singing along to Sean Paul, and then played Trivial Pursuit with my mom and dad. If you ask me, Amy and I are at a bit of a disadvantage in playing this game since we have the "Baby Boomer" edition set of cards, and nearly all the questions aside from the Science category are somewhat dated (most notably Arts & Entertainment, although most of the categories, since they are by definition relevant to a particular generation -- not our own -- refer to things particular to our parents' time frame).
The funny thing about these games is that we almost invariably devolve into flipping through the cards to help each other out, searching for questions we know the person being quizzed will know the answer to, or providing copious hints about the answer (my mom is particularly guilty of this). My dad, on the other hand, gets really excited flipping through
the cards and will ask questions at random just because he thinks the answer is interesting. After my dad won the game, we all sat around asking each other the questions, because Trivial Pursuit is just awesome and the fun wasn't over yet. A question about Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest sparked a discussion about the author, the novel, the movie, the historical context, and the anti-psychiatric movement of the 1960s and 70s (roughly in that order).Anyway, then my mom, dad, and sister all went to bed, and I sat down with a bowl of apple crisp to write this. I am way way excited to be leaving in basically two days, but sad, too: days like this remind me of how much I love my family and how lucky I am to have them around. I will miss them all a ton when I'm in China, probably more than I already miss them when I am up at school. I'm already looking forward to returning in August to spend another month with them.
posted by Kelly @ 10:38 上午
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