Yesterday I met my grandniece Joanie, the daughter of my nephew Max and his wife Caila. It’s been seven months because they live in LA. Max is East visiting his folks. I couldn’t make it when he was in New York with my sister Alison so yesterday I went up to Pleasantville where we met for breakfast with his father Ron and stepmom Chu. Lots of relationship names there. I just did research and found that I can call Joanie my grandniece, no hyphen, or great-niece, with a hyphen. In either case I’m her great-uncle. For most people the “great” means one generation removed but in my case it’s a descriptive.
Getting there was simple, I walked to the Fordham Station and took the MetroNorth to Pleasantville. We met at the Pleasantville Diner, right across the street from the train station. Pleasantville knows how to do train station environs, there’s a diner, a Starbucks, and a Dunkin’ Donuts. A DD by a station should be required by law.
Max fits right in with my friends, there were Monty Python and Hitchhiker’s Guides references in his wedding. Ron and Chu fit in too, it’s not all my good, for the sake of consistency, great influence.
This timey whimy stuff takes some getting used to. Max was just a baby; how does he have a baby? He thinks he’s just now getting the hang of adulthood. I thought that cute; he hasn’t learned that we never get the hang of it.
I’m still amazed that anyone lets me hold their babies. I haven’t dropped one yet, my record with them is much better than with eggs, and babies squirm. It must be hard-wired into our brains because I immediately loved Joanie. I loved having her in my lap, even when she spit up on me. Why didn’t I go “yuck” and drop her like a hot potato? Evolution is the only answer. It feels good holding a baby. She does share one eighth of her genes with me.
Getting home was not as easy as getting there. No trains run from Pleasantville to Fordham during the day. I had to take a train all the way into Manhattan. I didn’t know when it was going to leave but as I was checking the schedule the train came. That worked out well
Once in the City I went to my mailbox and then to Aldi. Aldi is in the Bronx but it’s easier to get to from Columbus Circle than my house. One train takes me straight there. The main reason I went was not to go shopping but to drop off pictures I left at the Walgreens down the block. Bri had given me a disposable camera to take pictures at Falcon Ridge and they still develop film. I finally posted my final Falcon Ridge pictures.
On the train I discovered that there is a special showing of Lawrence of Arabia today. It is a two-day run, September 1 and 4. I am seeing it today at one. I called Carey and he’s going to join me I used to go to the movies with him once a week, one weekend we saw three first-run movies together. I can’t remember the last time, it’s been years. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie with anyone. It might have been Avatar or The Muppets. I’m excited.
Listen to Folk Music Notebook today at noon, I’ll be on with another edition of Gord’s Gold. I’ll be in the subway and so will miss it.
Wise Madness 