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vindication
My friend Jaz used to tease me mercilessly, telling me that I had grown up in Leave It To Beaver/ “Hi Honey, I’m home!”-ville, but I failed to see the charm. The people down the street had too many cats, the other neighbors screamed at their kids in the front yard all the time, and a few houses over had the ugliest, most rotted out aboveground pool I was thankful to never have to swim in. Worse yet, under my very roof were the two dorkiest people you’d ever meet, who had the nerve to blatantly fail to meet the strict standards of family life set on our television set.
Yesterday, after Alex sharked my parents in Scrabble, and we’d finished an obscene meal of grilled filet mignon with gorgonzola/reduced balsamic sauce, corn, salad, crusty bread, and potatoes (I’ve been telling my mother what an awesome cook Alex’s mom is, and she wasn’t having it. Frankly, I was just trying to get her to show off.), and finished off my dad’s bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, Alex and I decided it time for a constitutional before we could even consider delving into mom’s homemade hot fudge sauce over vanilla ice cream. (Permission to drool granted.)
I haven’t been home in a while, most especially on a serene 72-degree summer evening, and I couldn’t get over how pretty everything was. I didn’t remember when everyone had gotten their lawns manicured, when all the paths got cobble-stoned, or when all the people who'd looked remotely familiar had left. It was so quiet. We ducked under low-hanging crabapple tree branches, tried not to trip over the sidewalk parts crumbled by gargantuan evergreen roots, and for once, I barely noticed the repetition of the five Levitt standards I had hated so much growing up. I was about to show Alex where I had flipped over my handlebars and broken my pinky when we had to abruptly stop to let three bunnies cross our path.
Jaz, since I know you’ve been waiting for this your whole life: You were totally right.
comments (12)
Actually, it sounds blissful...tho I'll admit that the bunnies are a nearly hilarious touch.
Any chance you'd post that hot fudge recipe? *nudge*
1 | miss kat | July 26, 2004 04:52 PM
Haha. That's for Mama Smitten to divulge, not me. However, she actually got the original recipe from this cookbook.
2 | deb | July 26, 2004 06:30 PM
only you could make jersey sound desirable.
aha aha ha ha ah ah ah h ah ah
anyway--are you around on the 13th of Aug? that is when the skybox/mets have been rescheduled.
3 | jocelyn | July 26, 2004 06:33 PM
Thanks for the recipe tip-off! I know the book well...in fact have destroyed two copies of it in domestic accidents (none of them related to my cooking, FYI).
4 | miss kat | July 26, 2004 07:36 PM
After living here as long as I have, I gotta tell you - going to my parent's place in NJ is like a trip to the country {mind you the house is 6 minutes off the bridge} it's just... vacationey and idyllic, I get you completely.
5 | Ari | July 27, 2004 10:30 AM
«the dontown trains are full/ with all those brooklyn girls/ they try so hard/ to break out of their little worlds»
6 | nils | July 27, 2004 10:46 AM
There will be NO more quoting of Rod Stewart on my site. A girl needs... standards.
7 | deb | July 27, 2004 11:06 AM
actually, nils was quoting tom waits. tom wrote the song, and rod ruined it for the rest of us. kind of like what vanilla ice did to "under pressure".
8 | sunshine | July 27, 2004 11:36 AM
Deb's parent's house is really charming. I would just like to note that on this date and time, debs admitted to the fact that I was right! I've been right many times throughout our 10+ year friendship, this is just the first time she is admitting to that fact. Now I can die a happy man!
9 | jaz | July 27, 2004 11:49 AM
My apologies to nils. We like Tom Waits. Usually.
10 | deb | July 27, 2004 12:00 PM
apologies accepted, and for the record: i WAS quoting tom waits, can't stand the other guy, didn't even know he was associated with the song
11 | nils | July 27, 2004 12:24 PM
Not only has jaz been totally vindicated, he was comment number 3200. Too bad I'm not giving out prizes for that anymore!
12 | deb | July 27, 2004 02:45 PM