A friend emailed me recently asking where all the blog entries have gone. My response was that I haven’t been feeling publicly clever lately. Privately I’ve been laughing like hell, but none of the sources of my mirth have quite lent themselves to massive sharing. One glance at anyone’s Facebook page tells me that no one else on the planet feels this type of restraint, and the endless parade of “I’m walking into the restaurant now” and “How adorable does little Bartleby look with all those Spaghetti O’s up his nose?” is enough to further inspire me to keep my personal amusements personal.
I will tell you, though, how my time is being spent and that’s planning a party for Son and Fiancée, formerly Girlfriend, who got engaged this spring. Son gathered us at the perfect place to break the news, our favorite sushi restaurant where so many of our family life events have unfolded. Some families have a fireplace and homemade crescent rolls; we have tuna tataki and a televised sporting event on the far wall. Present on the day in question were Daughter and Boyfriend, Son and (then) Girlfriend, and just me since Husband had to be at work on a Sunday. Girlfriend was seated to my left and I didn’t see what Daughter saw right away sitting across the table. The ring. It was gorgeous and sparkly and perched right on GF’s left hand and Daughter’s eyes got wide for an instant and then her face went back to normal and I kept on yammering about some school paper I was writing. We all ordered and ate and the meal was over when Son announced that he and Girlfriend had something to announce.
Here I have to say that Husband and I had already clapped our way through many announcements. In no particular order they have been: Girlfriend moved in with Son, Son got a promotion at work, Girlfriend was going back to school for another degree, Daughter was up for tenure, Boyfriend was going for his doctorate, etc. etc. and each time we thought it would be THE announcement, the SOMEONE IS GETTING MARRIED one, and I was starting not to care whether the BABY announcement came before the GETTING MARRIED announcement, I just wanted to hear one of them before I went on Medicare.
The last of the chopsticks were being cleared from the table when Son began to speak about something they wanted to say.
SON: We wanted to tell you all something and it’s too bad Husband had to work today.
DAUGHTER: YES! I’ve been about to explode. Say it, say it!
GIRLFRIEND: Oh, you saw it when I sat down?
DAUGHTER: Saw it? You can see it from space!
Boyfriend and I exchanged blank looks. We had been chatting about our schools and the beef negimaki and why don’t stores sell that amazing ginger dressing and neither of us had seen it. Daughter saw it and Girlfriend was wearing it and Son had bought it and Boyfriend and I shrugged in ignorance.
Then the delicate hand appeared in my field of vision with the diamond visible from the moon and the meteor-sized smiles on the faces of the young man I raised and the young woman about to inherit him and I screamed so loud the restaurant owner came rushing over prepared to either stomp on a roach or deliver the Heimlich maneuver.
OWNER: What is it? What do you need?
Girlfriend held up her left hand.
OWNER: (breaking into a huge grin) Sake on the house!
That was just what we needed.
Daughter’s Featured Fotos say it on the Sly
