Thanks inspirational van!
That moment
That you find a pigeon feather on your floor, see your open window, and realize that definitely, definitely, a pigeon has been in your bedroom today.
Mio Babbo
My earliest memory is sitting in a submarine with my dad and looking out of a porthole to see a red octopus. This makes us sound a lot cooler than we actually are.
The submarine was just part of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride at Disney World. I was two years old during that trip and I kicked the trip off with a bang. Literally. First day of vacation, I was jumping on a bed and fell off breaking my arm. Although I don’t recall this part, apparently the entire time we spent waiting in the emergency room I just kept repeating “Dudda Dudda Dudda” (my version of Dada) non-stop.
When my bike was stolen earlier this week (sob), it was all I could do to keep myself from calling Dudda Dudda Dudda. I’m not really sure how I thought a man a continent away could make the situation any better but in times of crisis he’s the one I turn to. I’m pretty confident he can fix just about any problem. There would be peace in the middle east if Jim Down set his mind to it. The man is superhuman.
He doesn’t have a cape, but he does more or less live on an airplane. My dad traveled even more when I was younger so that the time we got to spend with him at home always seemed really special even when we were only doing routine household chores. Rolling coins, gardening, washing cars by hand, and shining shoes are all activities I explicitly associate with spending time with my dad. Slim Jim is nothing if not efficient and child labor is a great way to get things accomplished. My sister likes to joke that we learned how to shine shoes at an early age, probably before we could talk.
I still love to shine shoes. And spend time with my dad.
Always Trying to Make Bryn Mawr Proud...
Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin: Summer 1956
“I have known many graduates of Bryn Mawr. They are all of the same mold. They have all accepted the same bright challenge: something is lost that has not been found, something’s at stake that has not been won, something is started that has not been finished, something is dimly felt that has not been fully realized. They carry the distinguishing mark – the mark that separates them from other educated and superior women: the incredible vigor, the subtlety of mind, the warmth of spirit, the aspiration, the fidelity to past and to present. As they grow in years, they grow in light. As their minds and hearts expand, their deeds become more formidable, their connections more significant, their husbands more startled and delighted. I once held a live hummingbird in my hand. I once married a Bryn Mawr girl. To a large extent they are twin experiences. Sometimes I feel as though I were a diver who had ventured a little beyond the limits of safe travel under the sea and had entered the strange zone where one is said to enjoy the rapture of the deep.”
—E.B.White, “Call Me Ishmael, or, how I feel about being married to a
Bryn Mawr Graduate.”
Appearing in the Alumnae Bulletin: Spring 2010:
"E. quit her job and moved to Italy to pursue a Masters degree in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. She is particularly enjoying the company of Catherine Down (‘09). Fueled by campari one evening, they ate pizza from the trash while sitting on a curb."
Please ignore the fact that I am double fisting pizza….
Somehow I doubt E.B. had this stunning display of grace and poise in mind when he wrote those words about Bryn Mawr women…
Just to explicate the situation a little further, we arrived at a pizzeria right as it was closing. I may have wailed distraughtedly when they told us that we couldn’t buy pizza. The nice pizza lady then magically produced a bag of old, cold pizza tied up in a plastic bag from underneath the counter. We squealed excitedly and promptly ate it on the curb outside.
My friend told me I had to be careful about what I wrote on this blog as future employers might read it, which is true. So future employers, you should probably know that I am the sort of person that will most likely eat pizza that may or may not have come from the trash. It was free and I’m excitable.
