Another cloudy day in Greensboro. I watched another Sporty's DVD this morning, after sleeping in to 8:30. Grandpa was off at his weight training class at UNC-G, and I ate a cookie, brownie, and milk (awful!) while watching MTV music videos until 10. I then downloaded the new Third Day CD and a few other songs on iTunes, did my laundry downstairs and got dressed. After watching the DVD and munching on Gramps' fried potatoes, I stopped feeling nauseous from my riduculous sugar intake and took Pepsi for a walk down Starmount Avenue. I then proceeded to call everyone I know in my phonebook, leaving messages left and right for my college friends and the Lawrenceville Leftovers. Margot Zips was the only one to pick up, and I loved hearing about her world, summer, and plans for the year. I am slightly freaked out by the thought of a new school year without my class approaching. How could L'ville go on without us? :0). Strange, too, to think of my loved teachers - Becker, Williams, Cunningham, etc. - all giving new, earnest and jaded faces thoughts and homework, dear Schroedes running the girls to the ground and back in tomorrow's first day of preseason, Clark leading Ropes Course (orientation already over!), our Freshman Girls' Bible Study kids heading to the Crescent... on and on... life goes on.
At the beach last week (was it only last week?), I ran every day, and thought so often, the waves continuously lapping my feet, how the water never rests, how it doesn't understand a concept of absolute stillness. A calm day still has a tide. Is it foolish for me to want absolute stillness sometimes? In Colorado, thunderstorms interrupt. In Vermont, family interrupts. In life, obligations and relationships always come into one's space - less interruptions than what it means to just be a person. God never rests... It seems He doesn't, but he rested on the 7th day. The ocean does not rest on Sunday. I'm reading Mark the last two days. Jesus says (paraphrased), "A farmer sowed seeds in a field. The seeds grew by themselves, and then the farmer reaped them when they were ready to be harvested with his sickle." Basically. God sets the universe up, and it works on its own, guarded by the creator. Our lives are set up... we can function with or without God. But we are all going to be cut, our three life strings, by a sickle of some form. After a long talk with Mom today, I am realizing how much I was shaken up by "Left Behind." I miss my mom. We fought on the last day of the beach, I giggle at how predictable I am... I get very angry before separation. How awful it is to think I have all the answers! How very scary when anyone thinks that they have all the answers to the questions. Nepal will be very interesting, as I dance with a different culture, a different place's feel of faith and basic behavior. The balance between faith and fundamentalism is a rough road. I stumble on becoming a slave to the rules I set up for my belief system and life, or on not having enough fundamentals in a whimsy faith system that collapses when some cultural stimulant or fabulous debater comes along.
With Grams gone off to Colorado for a Wellesley reunion (how WONDERFUL!), Grandpa and I are feasting like royalty. Last night was Italian, tonight barbeque. I love how cemented our relationship is becoming. As many of you know, my driving skills are somewhat lacking. I have been FORCED to learn how to drive the stick-shift Toyota hybrid Gramps just bought all day - back and forth 17 miles and a millions stops = stalls along the way! Well, I took Grandpa out on my dollar, so I made him drive (also because he keeps forcing a 5:00pm Gin and Tonic on me... and we all know how alcohol hits me like a truck)! I love being a passenger. How I miss my automatic. Sigh.
We ate BBQ together at Stameys by the Greensboro Coliseum. We both ordered the regular chopped plate (chopped pork barbeque, slaw, hushpuppies). I feel more Southern by the minute. We discussed our mellow day, and the short 5 minute flight George and I had. With a 2000-ft ceiling and several miles of visibility, the cloudy day didn't look like it would ground us. Well, after aborting our first take-off because my door flew open (whoops!), I took off all by myself! I lifted the nose a bit too late, but it was fine. Anyway, after we hit about 400 feet, the wind was much stronger than we thought. As I turned from our heading of 350 degrees to the south, the plane was jumping so much, we had to land backwards on the runway! I was giggling so hard, George was cracking up. The plane kept making my stomach jump into my mouth, and I thought it was pretty hysterical + adrenaline rush. George landed the plane and I taxied back to the hanger. Well, I added 10 minutes to my 2.5 hours! Whoop!
I made cookies and brownies yesterday, and I brought some for George and the mechanic, Ed, who fixes Gramps' plane annually. He's about Dad's age, and very nice to me and Gramps. His son, Jeff, is a mechanic as well, and Gramps teases me heavily about him. It would make a good story! He's awesome, 20, and is heading into the family business. Anyway, after we were grounded, I dropped off Gramps and Pepsi at the house, and went to Barnes & Noble to read the book version of Left Behind. I have to read the whole series. All of America has, and I am wildly intrigued.
Well, Grandpa and I talked about all this over BBQ, and then he proceeded to tell me about meeting Grams his senior year at West Point. I melted. Poor Alice Rotinsky, or whatever her name is, who Gramps wouldn't give a West Point miniature ring to at Ring Weekend (aka an engagement ring). Grandpa had had about 8 or 10 girlfriends since high school, but as he said, after he left home for college, "Out of sight, out of mind!" I said, "Isn't it... 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder?'" He laughed. "Not for me!" He met my Grandmother, Alice Steuart Haughton, a month or two later, after dumping poor Alice R. at Ring Weekend for his cousin and a career as a bachelor, professional soldier, at a political science meeting (which they both attended in the place of a friends), and sat next to eachother. Grams took him to the student center. He was very cold, and didn't have an overcoat in the cold weather. Grams was wearing a red coat, and tucked his hand into hers. He wrote her a letter, inviting her to a dinner/dance at West Point, and then to his graduation, and then to his life. 52 years later, that was that. Last night at Italian, I had this recurring thought that I should have gone to West Point. Then I decided, no... I just want to
marry someone from a military background. I really love the travel, the romance of that relationship. I basically want to repeat my grandmother's life. She is the most incredible person - I wish that I could be so lucky. She is this powerfully feminine matriarch that makes everyone so beautiful, smarter, and more articulate (a grammar whiz) - from my brother Leland to my mom to my aunt to my whole family. We cover a broad range of interest. I have a red coat.
Last night we watched "Double Indemnity" - a Turner Classic 8pm film noir movie. The beginning was a bit slow, to be perfectly honest, but I feel more educated about historical movies and genres, after watching the TCM 8pm movie the last few nights. "D.I" was a film about murder. An insurance salesman gets tied up with an unhappily married woman; they kill her husband, and the whole thing blows up. I loved the cigarettes and dramatic music. Barbara S-something, the female lead, wore wonderful shoes with pom-poms. The male lead, "Walter Neff," was very dramatic in his language, and said, "Baby!" with great enthusiasm. They took themselves very seriously.
One of the more awkward moments of my time in Greensboro happened the other day; I was watching music videos on VHI on Wednesday, same as today, as Gramps was at class, just eating my breakfast, reading the paper, and watching TV. Grandpa turned on the TV, and there was no Weather Channel! No TCM! But, instead, BUCKWILD was on VHI, and several vuluptuous young women were shaking their behinds for him. I was mortified. I have to tell Nana about that. Grandpa laughed.
Tomorrow is another day, hopefully I'll finish the DVD's, and get two hours of instruction in the air. 10 minutes in my logs today wasn't great - but good experience! We're having dinner with Grandpa's best friend and flying partner, Van Deusen. I don't even know what his first name is. He's just Van. He was Grandpa's brother, Johnny's, friend, before Johnny was KIA. Van has wild eyebrows, a darling wife named Natasha, and an eclectic house full of artwork, some made by Hooker, their 53-year-old son who lives upstairs independently, paints, sculpts, and works a security job over the weekend. Ciao!
