A Certain Smile

11 June 2013

Walt went and picked up the mail he had held while we were in Santa Barbara and there was a bumper crop.  Two journal through Swap Bog, a surprise box full of neat stuff, and two letters from Compssion kids.  One of the letters even had a photo of Emmanuella, the girl I sponsored because she looked so sad.  Her subsequent photos always showed a stern faced child looking seriously into the camera.

I was delighted to see her in this picture today.  She has had her head shaved and with the bald head and that hint of a smile she looks just gorgeous.   Her eyes really stand out, somehow, more than they did when she had hair.

She is only 12 years old, but she is going to be a beautiful woman when she grows up.

It was really nice to go and have breakfast with my mother this morning.  While we were away, Ed had come up and hung photos and the place looks like "hers" now.  She doesn't think she's living in a motel any more.

 

She was also sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee, which she had gone to get from the lobby because she didn't feel like making coffee...another good sign.   She's getting into the swing of things.

We talked for awhile and then went off to breakfast.  After we had finished eating, Jane, one of the residents whose name I know, came to sit with us.   I had told her last week that I was taking off for Santa Barbara and she asked me how my trip was.  I thought she was just being polite, but it turns out her daughter lives in Santa Barbara and she wanted to know if she could hitch a ride with us the next time we are going down there.

My mother has no desire to go to Santa Barbara, but we'll take Jane!

After breakfast we chatted a bit longer.  I reminded her that my 2nd cousin Niecie was going to come today to give her a pedicure (she's a cosmetologist).   I gave her a ticket for a complementary lunch so that she could take Niecie to lunch, then I left.

Later in the day Niecie called to report on her visit and say how much she loved the place.  I asked if she had lunch.  She said she had.  I asked if my mother had used her complementary pass.  She had not.

Sigh.

I just have to assume that she won't remember anything an act accordingly!  (This morning she had to ask me what her last name was, which she forgot briefly.)

Tomorrow I'm taking her to get some papers notorized and the next day we're doing "high tea" at a tea house in Dixon with my friend Pat, who, I know, will get along very well with my mother.

Also in the mail were two journals, one a "shared knowledge" journal, where one person puts in some article she finds interesting, writes a short bio and tells why she chose that article, then passes it along to the next person, who does the same.  When the book is filled, it gets returned to the original sender.

The other is the Composition Journal (photos of the pages of my journal are on line and linked in the left column).  The journal was beautifully done and I spent the afternoon looking through it.  We don't have much in common, but my word is she creative in the way she presented her thoughts.  I wrote a note telling her how much I appreciated it and how creative she had been.

The partner who received MY 100+ page book which was about 1/3 designed to match her likes, including things like Hello Kitty items, a bunch of foreign coins (which she collects), a few pages of Mickey Mouse collage.  I also included stickers, envelopes, a CD and other surprise gifts along the way.  I know that I'm not particularly artistic, but it was like a slap in the face to get the comment:   "Thanks." 

That's it.  Just "thanks."  When I wrote to her to question her reply, she seemed to be angry that I would even say anything about it.   My initial response was that I never wanted to put that kind of time and energy into another book ever again, but then I remembered how much fun I had doing it...and how glad I was that I'd taken photos of all the pages so if my partner doesn't like it, I can at least remember what I did and how much I enjoyed the creativity.