Monday, April 14, 2008

Did I Hear That Right?

Boy, did I get an earful on Saturday afternoon. I was driving Laurel and one of her friends to a birthday party -- more on that in a moment -- and I was aghast at the conversation in the back seat. This, from a 13-year-old girl (not mine, thankfully): "Xxyjyj has the cutest white bag. It has an L and a V on it, like a Louis Vuitton bag. I'd rather have a Chanel bag, I think. And a Tiffany necklace, a silver 'A' with diamonds on it, like Elle Woods [Reese Witherspoon's character in the Legally Blonde movies] And Xxyjyj is so nice. Her dad is so rich. He owns a company." When it became clear that it would scandalize her -- and Laurel, for that matter -- to be escorted into this place where the party was, you better believe I did it. Seeing as it was a sports bar (!!), I'd have done it anyway. Had said sports bar's regular patrons been there, my kid would not have been. At least the mom of the birthday girl (not Xxyjyj) had reserved it. Thank heaven for the smoking ban. The mom? Wouldn't even look at me when I introduced myself. I thought she'd stuck a dead fish in my hand when I realized it was hers. She took the present and followed the girls back to the party. Let's hope she was preoccupied with keeping an eye on 20 girls.

End graf, new thought:

Late Friday night, I was on an emergency ice cream run for Laurel's sleepover (Mom! We need chocolatechipcookiedough! Please!*) and there, in the frozen food aisle, I heard "Are you from Rome?" There stood a man with sad eyes and a bit of an accent and I think he was being genuine. We chatted for a couple of minutes, it soon became clear he was a bit lonely and looking for company -- no, I don't think that kind -- and he couldn't believe I wasn't Italian. I couldn't believe he lived in Coon Rapids! He had gotten back from Paris and Rome after visiting relatives two days before, just in time for the storm. He was on NWA's first nonstop flight from Paris to Minneapolis and showed me the key ring that he got from the flight attendant, engraved and dated. He showed me his leftover Euro coins -- 1,000 Euros was $1,500, he said, shaking his head. He was so earnest, it was very sweet.

Or not. But I choose to think he was. Whatever, it brightened my week. I hope he finds someone to talk to.

*yay! she remembers some of her manners! Just teasing, honey. You know I love you.

1 comment:

Pamela M. Miller said...

A sweet story about that sad-eyed man! Love it that he thought you were Italian...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...