Packing to go

Officially tired with little creative energy today. This picture of Abe is pretty much how Ted and I feel right now. Lots of going up and down 76 stairs to the house from the street, usually carrying a lot of stuff, and last night the timing was perfect for twisting my ankle. Colorful bruising is in my immediate future. Our to-do lists are growing by the hour.

I went today to this randomly chosen optometrist in Glendale to get a back-up pair of glasses for the trip. It was a tiny little shop with a sweet Armenian woman working behind the counter who reminded me so much of the women I used to teach in my ESL classes down here. She treated me like family as I picked out my frames, and eventually the optometrist came out from the back to talk to me. When I was explaining why I need the glasses asap, his face lit up and he told me that he was born in Ethiopia!

He then took me to his desk and pulled out his old photo album from his childhood in Addis Ababa. His grandparents, as part of the diaspora after the Armenian genocide, emigrated to Ethiopia. His parents were born there, and then he was born there. He lived there until his late teens. What stories people have if we take the time to listen.

In the afternoon, look who came to visit:I made Zoe cry by making a 'zrbt' on her tummy. She'd warned me that the screams were coming by giving me a classic furrowed eyebrow frown but I made the mistake of thinking that she was just suprised. All babies love the 'zrbt' right? Wrong.

The above photo was taken after the zrbt trauma, so I'm assuming she forgave me. She was more interested in Ted the whole time anyway. She thought pretty much anything he did was pretty cool.Can you believe the cheeks and eyelashes on that girl? What a beauty!

Last night, Samantha popped by too and dropped by the cutest all organic onesie with a guitar on the front for Abe. It was so great to meet her and her daughter. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: this blogging community is really something. I don't know what I'd do without everyone. I had no idea when I started this blog that I would end up making so many life-long friends. Wonderful thing.

Tomorrow is our official bag-packing day, at least for all the donations and gifts for the Gladney caregivers. Oh, and the hundreds of diapers and wipes, plus all the powdered formula as well. Two expert packers, Carolee and Pattie, are coming to help me, so I think our chances are good of staying under our weight allowance. We'll see.