Today Was A Good Day

We got up, I got the fish tanks cleaned (I know — it all starts out so mundane sounding!)… but before I was done cleaning the fish tanks, who should arrive on our doorstep but the long awaited Jaina! The Girls have been so wound up & excited for this weekend. M2 went to bed last night saying, “And tomorrow Jaina!” Yes, tomorrow Jaina! And the first words out of her mouth this morning were, “Today we see Jaina!” (Flashing The Hugest Smile Ever). Yes, today Jaina! Among the many questions on their minds requiring answers was, of course, “Is her hair still going to be hot pink?” To their delight, it was fabulous shades of purple & green! And, of course, because she’s Jaina — gold sparkles, which by the end of the day covered The Girls as well.

Jaina came bearing gifts, because that’s how she rolls. She brought us the new Harry Potter, and Harry Potter tattoos, and for P, beer besides. We had a little lunch, then went in search of something for my brother for his birthday. This lead us to the illustrious classical guitar shop, Rosewood Guitars, as my brother has decided that he rather likes guitar after all & he wants to play jazz & classical. He’s always played jazz, but classical is a new thing for him. So I picked up a piece of classical by some guy he asked for, & then asked for a recommendation for guitar duets where one half is fairly easy & one is a little more advanced (because mr. fancypants jazz-trained guitarist dude is a lot a lot a lot better than I am at the whole shebang). He’s really into the idea of playing duets with me & who am I to complain about that? It sounds like great fun to me! We’ll see if this book is hard enough for him & easy enough for me… Actually — it’ll be good to play with him, as always, playing with someone else teaches one new tricks, etc, etc. During this whole time, in a shop with many guitars well over the $1K (and quite a few over the $8K) mark, M1 & M2 were astoundingly good.

I made my purchase & we climbed back in the car & decided to make a pitstop at Sonic Boom so Jaina could buy my brother something for his birthday, which was the fabulous Sir Richard Bishop. I bought me the new Gogol Bordello. Because: Gogol Bordello. Then, the proximity to Dusty Strings was too great. M1 *insisted* we go there. I could hear the great chorus of sirens calling her to them. “Mom. We *have* to go there. I haven’t been in there since I was, like, four. Or five. Or something.” So in we went because how could we not? Again, The Girls were astoundingly good. Naturally at M2’s eye level, they had the little kid ukuleles. There was one in bright red. One in orange. One in yellow. One in green. One in blue. One in purple. M2 crouched down to get a good close look at them. In reverent tones she says, “Oohhh, Mommy! Look at that one!” They were all super-saturated colors, very vivid. She pointed at the purple one. She wanted to touch it. Ohhh how badly she wanted to touch it, but she was so good. I told her after we looked around a little bit, I’d buy it for her, if she was good. “Red one too?” Do you like that one better? “No, both! Actually, I like them all!” I am only buying one, if you are good. “Oh, purple one.” I discreetly mentioned to M1 that she could purchase something up to the price of the ukulele I was going to be getting for M2. She looked. And looked. Tried the children’s concertina. Tried the children’s accordion. Looked at the little stringed thing. But what her heart really desired was a drum. She tried all the drums. Kept going back to one that she really liked the sound of. Drat! It was $10 more than the ukulele. I gave in. We walked back over & got the little purple ukulele for M2 & M1 came over with her drum. The nice cashier lady was very entertained by our little bunch. M2 handed the purple ukulele up to her & she got very excited and as she dashed off, we could hear her saying, “Oh! The little purple ukulele has a little purple case for it!” And sure enough! In the same vivid purple, a little cloth case for the ukulele. Freaking. Adorable. And then to see the two girls gleefully marching up the street with their newly acquired instruments. So cute. Ridiculously so. I really can’t even begin to tell you how mind-bendingly cute they have been all day.

We got home with our many purchases, and it was time to start making dinner. My brother & his new bride came over to enjoy it with us. They were charmed (how could they not be?) by the new instruments in the house. M2 marched around the living room holding & trying to play the ukulele much as one might play a fiddle very badly, with the body resting on her shoulder & the neck extending down her arm, but instead of a bow, she just flailed wildly at the strings. Or she’d set it horizontally on her lap & play it that way — so she would get a face full of the sound coming up at her. M1 wanted to sit next to Jaina, wherever she was, and play her new drum. She was not so amused when I asked her to please stop for now, but eventually she did actually stop.

We had a lovely dinner. Talked of many things. At one point M2 thought Jaina was the funniest thing ever & just laughed & laughed & laughed & laughed & laughed. I think mostly she was just so totally overcome with delight that such a being as Jaina even exists & laughter was the best expression of that delight. Eventually the girls went to bed after it being made very, very clear to them that they were to wait until Jaina came upstairs in the morning & that they were not to go down & bother her. At some point, they had decided they were going to sleep by her. Mmmnnot so much. I don’t know where or when or how they got this idea, but there it was. I do wonder if one or the other isn’t going to try to sneak down and make a little nest by her, but we really did try to make it clear that they were not to do that. After some grown up talk of stock markets (don’t get it), cars (don’t get it), laundry, & fiber & actual stuff that we really talk about like music, silly movies, and random odd bits of this & that (all while trying not to disclose that we’d been to Rosewood Guitar today), my brother & his new bride ventured forth into the night to go home. I made cinnamon rolls to have for breakfast, which is already nearer than I’d like.

“Tomorrow” (well, right — when I wake up today) our beeloved Jaina is off to her home, and we have my cousin & her daughter to entertain (and to keep us entertained while we have yet another open house), and then we celebrate my brother’s birthday belatedly. It will be a busy day. Or not as busy as we thought. We’ll see what it brings. But now I need to go get some sleep & smell the sweet summer rain so I can get up & keep going in the morning.