I am so in love!!!

With little Stella my niece. Here we are in Stella's first live-action movie (the voice you hear is my brother Dave, aka baby Daddy, who accidenally made this rather than snapping a photo):

Notice that on cue she performs. I think she's thinking "hey hey hey!" as she waves her little hand!!!

So, this weekend I went home to Kansas City and finally met little Miss Stella Rand – my beautiful and teeny niece. It’s incredible that people are so little in their early days. I held her at various points and looked deep into her eyes, which were somewhat vacantly half-focused on something that could be me or could be something beyond me. I could understand why some people and some entire cultures believe teeny babies are other worldly, like angels or little gods. But I think it’s because you know that in the very near future they will be talking and interacting and that they really do have personalities lurking somewhere beneath their vacant stares, but they’re not yet really participating. Babies are masters of looking simultaneously wise and vegetable-y. Obviously I was fascinated by my little blood-line.

I gave her (or rather my brother and SIL) the quilt I made for her. The quilt is a mess, since I’m a highly unskilled and hasty sewer, but my embarrassment was belied by the fact that I kept talking about my quilt and taking pictures of it. I was pretty proud even if it was sort of a mess upon close inspection.

Saturday I went to my little brother, who is a junior in HS, Steve’s cross-country meet. It was actually a time-trial, and he did pretty decently for a relative of mine. His program has more than 80 kids but he was number 24. That should solidly put him on the JV team, steps above the other team he was on for the past two years. It was fun to see a bunch of High School cross-country kids. I was glad to no longer be in HS cross-country. Nothing more horrifying than lining up and sprinting off in those first 100 yards of mortifying slowness. Well, that was my experience anyhow :p

Saturday night I went with my SIL and her friend Shiela to Shiela’s friend’s comedy show/fundraiser. Unbeknownst to Tina or me, it was a “black comedy show” – and we were the only three white folks there. It was pretty odd to be the center of so many jokes at a comedy show. None of them clean enough to repeat here. It was actually refreshing after being in Montana for so long, where diversity is being from Butte, or even weirder, Anaconda.

Monday we attended my parents’ friends’ neighborhood annual water-balloon war. This was a serious event involving a lot of preparation. Hundreds of water balloons were filled in advance. I avoided getting wet and took pictures. Then Barb and I did a little shopping and I flew home.



It was a short but nice trip. One of the things that struck me was how I hadn’t appreciated the lack of cicadas and fireflies in Montana. My Midwestern upbringing means I strongly associate summer with those sounds and sights. But I sure don’t miss the heat and humidity. These two things made me feel really nostalgic