romantic shingles ram and juice nazy’s birthday celebration
Welcome to April! This will be a month of fun and excitement. It began early — on April 1st which is Nazy's birthday. Naturally, I was prepared with romantic plans.
“You want to go where?” Nazy asked, astonished by the audacity and caring tenderness that was the foundation of my birthday celebration day plans.
“The Sansum Clinic, my dear.”
“A doctor’s office? You want to ‘celebrate’ my birthday in a doctor’s office?”
“More specifically in an outpatient facility. We can each get a Shingles vaccination. As the saying goes, the family that vaccinates together stays together.”
“I am speechless,” Nazy replied. Speaking.
“You don’t have to say ‘thanks’,”
“There is little chance of that,” Nazy replied. “I really wanted the ‘Ram Wardrobe’ that I showed you..”
“ … several times..”
“….. but it was sold to someone before you, Dan, made an offer. Mary’s store was closing and you could have gotten something really special. But you chose..”
“Shingles shots,” I interrupted. “I’m really glad I didn’t follow through on the colonoscopy idea,” I thought. “But that’s not all. Nazy. I know that you want a cold, slow juicer, too.”
“Wow!” Nazy replied.
“That ‘wow’ doesn’t seem totally enthusiastic.” I noted.
“Usually birthday gifts are less utilitarian, Dan. Vaccinations and kitchen appliances don’t make my heart beat faster.”
“My heart is beating faster,” I replied since I was carrying a heavy juicer to the car.
“You know, Dan, that my Zodiac sign is Aries, the Ram.”
“Yes, I ..”
“And I have a serving tray that matches that wardrobe that you could have…”
“Could have?”
“Should have gotten for me. It is my birthday.”
“It was sold, Nazy.”
“Because you were too late. Dan.”
“I got you a really pretty birthday card.”
“Thanks,” Nazy said. “Whoopee,” Nazy thought.
In truth, I was not completely utilitarian about Nazy’s birthday. On her birthday eve, we went to Bouchon restaurant for an elegant dinner. And, her actual birthday dinner, at Cadiz, included Melika, Tom, Mitra, Stefan and Tiger. (Nazy and I came as well.) Moreover, the reason the RAM wardrobe was sold was because Melika and I had bought it. You can, therefore, imagine Nazy’s surprise when Tom and I carried it into the house.
(It is difficult to describe this RAM wardrobe. A picture is mandatory. (Now we just have to figure out a place to put it — and several large and strong people to put it there.)
“I just need Elmer’s glue and some sand,” Nazy explained as we drove to the craft shop.
Back home, she constructed ‘sandpaper-ish’ cards for each of the 32 letters in the Farsi alphabet. Tiger is learning the letters by feeling the scratchy shapes on the cards. I’m hoping that the Elmer’s is strong enough to keep the sand on the card.
On the Farsi front, when Tiger asks Nazy to do something (“Sit down and play cars.&rdquo
, Nazy responds in Farsi with “I don’t understand you.” And Tiger switches to Farsi (“Sit down and play cars and stop pretending that you don’t understand me.&rdquo
Speaking of Tiger, it is spring break at school. Tom and Melika went for a progress report. Tiger, we’re informed, is the youngest and smallest in the class, but “that has no impact at all on his self-confidence”.
On day after Nazy’s birthday, Nazy and I took him to the Botanical Garden. He likes to walk among the flowers (yellow and purple are favorites, but he is also excited by ‘green flowers’ which many people would call ‘leaves’. Because we have experienced a small amount of rainfall, all of the flowers are very pretty. He walked (and talked) his way along a 1.5 mile trail — upset by a tree that had fallen down during a fire 9 years ago and thrilled by a ‘creek’ that actually contained a few drops of water.
And, finally, at the end of the day on April 2nd, Nazy and I, following Persian tradition, went to Mission Park to ‘tie the grass’ — i.e. make wishes for the coming year. It was..
“… so nice that we’re in America, now.” I noted. “We can tie grass stalks together without fear.”
“Fear?”
“Yep. Remember when we did this in the Swiss forest. One of us always had to be on the lookout for the woodland police. I was always worried that we’d be accused of defacing the grass.”
“We never got caught.”
“Because I was watching. A friend of ours got fined for discarding grass clippings in a forest.”
“You want to go where?” Nazy asked, astonished by the audacity and caring tenderness that was the foundation of my birthday celebration day plans.
“The Sansum Clinic, my dear.”
“A doctor’s office? You want to ‘celebrate’ my birthday in a doctor’s office?”
“More specifically in an outpatient facility. We can each get a Shingles vaccination. As the saying goes, the family that vaccinates together stays together.”
“I am speechless,” Nazy replied. Speaking.
“You don’t have to say ‘thanks’,”
“There is little chance of that,” Nazy replied. “I really wanted the ‘Ram Wardrobe’ that I showed you..”
“ … several times..”
“….. but it was sold to someone before you, Dan, made an offer. Mary’s store was closing and you could have gotten something really special. But you chose..”
“Shingles shots,” I interrupted. “I’m really glad I didn’t follow through on the colonoscopy idea,” I thought. “But that’s not all. Nazy. I know that you want a cold, slow juicer, too.”
“Wow!” Nazy replied.
“That ‘wow’ doesn’t seem totally enthusiastic.” I noted.
“Usually birthday gifts are less utilitarian, Dan. Vaccinations and kitchen appliances don’t make my heart beat faster.”
“My heart is beating faster,” I replied since I was carrying a heavy juicer to the car.
“You know, Dan, that my Zodiac sign is Aries, the Ram.”
“Yes, I ..”
“And I have a serving tray that matches that wardrobe that you could have…”
“Could have?”
“Should have gotten for me. It is my birthday.”
“It was sold, Nazy.”
“Because you were too late. Dan.”
“I got you a really pretty birthday card.”
“Thanks,” Nazy said. “Whoopee,” Nazy thought.
In truth, I was not completely utilitarian about Nazy’s birthday. On her birthday eve, we went to Bouchon restaurant for an elegant dinner. And, her actual birthday dinner, at Cadiz, included Melika, Tom, Mitra, Stefan and Tiger. (Nazy and I came as well.) Moreover, the reason the RAM wardrobe was sold was because Melika and I had bought it. You can, therefore, imagine Nazy’s surprise when Tom and I carried it into the house.
(It is difficult to describe this RAM wardrobe. A picture is mandatory. (Now we just have to figure out a place to put it — and several large and strong people to put it there.)
The Ram Wardrobe
Before the birthday dinner, Mitra and Stefan had time to visit with young Tiger. They took him to the Natural History Museum where he spent a lot of time walking between yellow, white and purple flowers.
As regular readers know, Nazy speaks Farsi exclusively when she’s talking with young Tiger.. a task that was challenging when she decided that he wanted to begin to learn the alphabet.
Refrigerator magnets (incongruously affixed to the dishwasher) and Nazy’s persistence have resulted in Tiger’s mastery of the (English) alphabet. Moreover, Nazy also taught him the names of the Farsi letters. But the Farsi alphabet is magnet-free. Nazy was not amused by this situation.
“I just need Elmer’s glue and some sand,” Nazy explained as we drove to the craft shop.
Back home, she constructed ‘sandpaper-ish’ cards for each of the 32 letters in the Farsi alphabet. Tiger is learning the letters by feeling the scratchy shapes on the cards. I’m hoping that the Elmer’s is strong enough to keep the sand on the card.
On the Farsi front, when Tiger asks Nazy to do something (“Sit down and play cars.&rdquo
, Nazy responds in Farsi with “I don’t understand you.” And Tiger switches to Farsi (“Sit down and play cars and stop pretending that you don’t understand me.&rdquoSpeaking of Tiger, it is spring break at school. Tom and Melika went for a progress report. Tiger, we’re informed, is the youngest and smallest in the class, but “that has no impact at all on his self-confidence”.
On day after Nazy’s birthday, Nazy and I took him to the Botanical Garden. He likes to walk among the flowers (yellow and purple are favorites, but he is also excited by ‘green flowers’ which many people would call ‘leaves’. Because we have experienced a small amount of rainfall, all of the flowers are very pretty. He walked (and talked) his way along a 1.5 mile trail — upset by a tree that had fallen down during a fire 9 years ago and thrilled by a ‘creek’ that actually contained a few drops of water.
And, finally, at the end of the day on April 2nd, Nazy and I, following Persian tradition, went to Mission Park to ‘tie the grass’ — i.e. make wishes for the coming year. It was..
“… so nice that we’re in America, now.” I noted. “We can tie grass stalks together without fear.”
“Fear?”
“Yep. Remember when we did this in the Swiss forest. One of us always had to be on the lookout for the woodland police. I was always worried that we’d be accused of defacing the grass.”
“We never got caught.”
“Because I was watching. A friend of ours got fined for discarding grass clippings in a forest.”
For last week's letter click here
Dan and Tiger at Botanical Garden
Tiger in the playground
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