Oui! Seamstress cuts talking hair in waterlogged drought
“And I think she said: ‘Oui!’,” Nazy interrupts.
We’d know for sure if Nazy had let me install the listening device in the courthouse. But details aside, we all agree that the flavor of Christiane response to Darius’ marriage proposal was in the affirmative. The Santa Barbara family contingent helped celebrate. We are all very happy for Darius and Christiane. Astonishingly though, Christiane has already returned to Lebanon while Darius remains in Santa Barbara. This was..,
“.. rather poorly planned,” I commented to Darius.
“Planned?” Darius responded.
“You don’t propose today and then let your fiancee fly 7458 miles away tomorrow.”
“She has a job, Dad. She had to go back. She had to be at the annual family reunion in Beirut. I started to miss her while she was going through security at LAX.”
“Romance and longing in the security queue! It always tugs at my heart strings, Dar.”
Here in Santa Barbara, although we remain locked in an extended drought, the flowers in our patio planters are suffering from over-watering. I also have concerns that the water police will swoop onto our property and disable the water faucet. The Grand(est)son is the unlikely cause of these challenges. His first spoken word was ‘aub’ (Persian for ‘water&rsquo
. He loves to (over) water the plants. And, because the watering can weighs more than him, there are frequent spills. To no avail, I have explained that: “we don’t water the pavement”. I’m hoping that the ‘WaterWise’ committee won’t spot the runoff. As if water waste wasn’t important enough, there were other harbingers of ominous danger for the lad.
“He’s going to get a hair cut,” Melika noted. “His very first haircut!”
“Don’t do it!” I replied. “After my Mom cut my hair, it didn’t grow back.”
“Dad, that’s..”
“Look Melika! The top of my head is hair-free. And it is all Mom’s fault. Don’t repeat her mistake. After my hair was cut, it grew back in the wrong place —my chin.” Melika just looked at me.
Seeing my dismay, Nazy accompanied me to the barbershop for my own haircut. She also introduced the grand(est)son to the barber chair.
After my advice was ignored and Tiger’s hair was cut, Melika noted how good ..
“… he looks. Just like a little boy.”
“He looks great.” I replied. “For now,” I thought. “Wait until he’s middle aged.” I continued.
“Middle aged, Dad?”
“Like me.” I replied.
Melika had no comment.
Tiger, Nazy and Dan (background) at the Barber Shop
A few more grand(est)son observations: He is rapidly learning to talk. Reflecting the languages used around him, he speaks a mixture of English, Farsi, Spanish and Sign Language. A polyglot environment leads to unusual word acquisition patterns. And sometimes these patterns are…
“Annoying, Dad.” Melika claimed. “Very annoying! Tiger can say: ‘Donald Duck’, but he can’t say: ‘Mama’.”
“He can’t really do ‘Donald Duck’ either.” I replied. “But, impressively, he does say ‘Dododuk’.” I thought.
“He calls me ‘Dada’,” Melika continued.
“He calls everyone he knows, ‘Dada’. I realize that after you gave birth, painful natural childbirth by the way, your son should have said: ‘Mama’ first.”
“Hrmph.” Melika hrumphed.
“If it will make you feel better, Mel,” I continued. “I took him for our normal walk today. When he saw the bamboo plants he said..”
“I can’t stand it, Dad.”
“ …. ‘baboo’. He can’t do the ‘m’. that’s why..”
“He can say ‘mmmn’ for ‘moon’, Dad. He’s is purposely not saying ‘Mama’.”
“Are you the one who made him taste the creamed spinach?” I asked.
“Dad!”
“Just asking. When Nazy gives me creamed spinach, I don’t talk for a couple of days.”
And finally, I can report a happy side-effect of Darius’ engagement. When Nazy and I moved to California a few years ago, Nazy, as is her practice, established relationships with a vast variety of local people. A seamstress was among the first new acquaintances. Nazy wanted to use several meters of fine lace that we had transported from our Zurich home. She gave the work to the ‘best seamstress in Santa Barbara’. That was in 2012. Three years later, it was clear that ‘best’ is not synonymous with ‘fastest’. But…
“I told her that I needed this dress for Darius’ wedding,” Nazy explained.
“Do you know when Darius’s wedding will.”
“I told her that he was getting married this Saturday.”
“Did you tell Darius? Does Christiane know?”
“It doesn’t matter, Marianne, the seamstress, finished the dress.”
“Aren’t you smart.” I replied. “I’ll tell Darius that he can proceed with the wedding.”
For last week's letter, click here
Darius and Christiane