Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Sarah came to visit!
When I was six my crazy parents decided to move to Australia with me and my six month old sister. We moved into a house in Melbourne, Australia with an outhouse and a refrigerator that was so old that I technically think it couldn’t be called a refrigerator. It didn’t have an actual freezer, but an icebox that if you weren’t quick on the draw when you opened the door to the fridge it flew open and conked you on the head. This is when I learned how to swear and all of you who know me well know that the habit has stuck with me and I am quite proficient. I know that when Lotus comes home with a note from the principal about her bad language I will be the one to blame.
Next door to this adventurous home in the second biggest city in Australia lived The Phillips'. Veronica and my mom became fast friends and my mom always claims that Veronica saved all of our lives since my mom really didn’t know they first thing about Australia when we moved there. She hated driving on the other side of the road, the stores had weird hours, people ate vegemite and talked funny. I could continue, but the basis of this meandering path is that Veronica took my mom under her wing and showed her the ropes. The Phillips’ have two daughters, Emma who is about my age who has visited us a few times and Sarah who is about Rachel’s age. We have remained very good friends with this family for almost thirty years and finally Sarah to the States for the first time for a visit.
It was wonderful to see Sarah and though my skeptical Lotus flower gave Sarah a run for her money at first (poor Sarah was practically doing cartwheels to get a smile), she warmed up and Sarah won her over. So much so that Lotus thought it would be great fun to thrown all her food at Sarah at a restaurant we took to Sarah to her last night in town. Though we were all trying to suppress laughter the other diners were not so pleased.
I hope it won’t be another 25 years until Sarah makes it out this way again.
