Somebody to Love

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It’s Valentine’s Day. Weeks ago, Sarah showed me a card she had purchased for Kyle for this very day. It’s a boy sitting with a huge grin on his face, and a girl on either side of him kissing his cheeks. Below is a quote from Mae West: Too much of a good thing can be wonderful! When a day starts off with something like this, how can it not be great? He and I also sat at breakfast and watched non-regular-hotel-guests try to figure out how to make waffles. Quite entertaining.

Did I mention it was torrential downpour outside? I think the last time I saw it rain that hard was in Kentucky last March as we were about an hour ahead of some major tornadoes! We could barely hear each other talk in the van because the rain was so loud! Oh well. I drove the first leg, and Kyle did the rest of the drive (which was by far the majority.) This is why we’re friends- he gets bored just riding in the car, while I get bored driving. I got a lot of reading done, but unfortunately, not much sleeping. Eventually, though, we made it to our next stop: Jackson, Mississippi.

Sarah and I went for a walk before dinner; everything near by is a government building it seems. Except for the HUGE First Presbyterian Church! It’s a huge building that spans over the street with a skywalk. Holy cow! Then we joined the kids on the bus to dinner. The girls were talking to me about sisters, and asking all sorts of questions. “What is a sister-in-law?” “What if your mother and your father have one child, you, and your father has another wife, and that other wife has a child? Who is that child?” A half-sister. “Oh, I have lots of those!” Sometimes these kids seem so young and innocent and sheltered, and then with a simple question, I am reminded of where they come from and all they know. They told me that they have lots of sisters, but when I asked how many, “I don’t know.” It’s a different world.

Here’s the thing about water. When we eat, the kids are expected to clear their plates and drink their entire drink. So when we go to buffets (boo-fays or boo-fets), and the kids get up to get more food, they’re always nervous that the waitress will come back and fill up their water glasses and they’ll have to drink more! One of the girls tonight said, “There are some boofays where the people are good and don’t fill your water up every time, but some places are bad and they never let your glass be empty.” I was no good at explaining to them that GOOD service is when they keep it filled (mine was empty most of the night and I was quite thirsty) and it’s not good if they don’t fill it up. They just didn’t want to have to drink more than was required of them!

Last thing: No buffet is good enough that it should be full (with a line) on a Saturday night. Especially on Valentine’s Day! I think it was Amanda who said it: If a man ever took me to a buffet on Valentine’s Day, I’d ditch him so fast!

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