Amanda Takes Off...

Spring on the Farm

Mom and George live on a ranch. They call it a farm. The bed in the guest bedroom faces an east window. It woke me up one morning, so I headed out with Gus, their dog, and took some photos. Nature's sepia toning, the morning sun was.

The wake last night and funeral today were nice. I got to see family I hadn't seen since 2002.

Family

When I greeted my uncle I mentioned him comment on my blog and explained why Good Man couldn't come. I used Good Man's real name, of course.

"Is that his name?" he said, "I only know him as Good Man. I only know him in 2-D."

That struck me. Sunday we went to Duluth to visit some more family (on Mom's side) that I (also) hadn't seen in years. Mom was surprised we weren't more huggy or chatty or something. We all explained, independently, that Facebook and the internet keep us connected, so it doesn't seem like it's been years since we last saw each other.

I'm not Catholic but George's family is. The wake and funeral were both Catholic, which was interesting. I was watching it all much like I watched Grandmother's funeral in Korea, with a curious detachment. There were some things I saw (incense, bells) that made me think, 'Hmm, they did something like this at the Buddhist funeral.'

(Side: At the funeral home I found a book called something like Funeral Customs Around the World, printed in 1960. Apparently the seven knots in the hemp cloth are due to seven stars in the constallation of the bear.)

My cousin and I were chosen to do readings. I was first up and it was right after we entered the church. I wanted to cry, but I thought, 'Don't look at Grandpa and put on your best teacher voice.' I did. Then my cousin was up. She's in law school and I can only assume she put on her lawyer voice because she did a great job.

After the funeral I got to partake in great Minnesota food. Three different Jell-O salads (!), a half dozen varieties of "bars," and Tater Tot hot dish were some of the offerings. Oooh, it was like being back in high school.

I wish Good Man had been able to come. He would've met a ton of family at one time, experienced an American funeral, and eaten real Midwestern food. Still, although he couldn't come, I'm glad I went.

What is George Doing?

Today my grandmother (stepdad's mom) died.

My paternal grandmother is in the hospital from a stoke that happened about two weeks ago.

My parents' dog got hit by a car and killed in the past week.

And my brother's going to Afghanistan in a month.

If bad shit comes in threes, why is this coming in a torrential downpour?

The only decent news I have is that I finished the third Pippi book (삐삐는 어른이 되기 싫어) in Korean last night.

Today was about getting stuck. Getting stuck in traffic, getting an IKEA piece stuck inside another IKEA piece (which then caused a chopstick, a crochet hook and a knitting needle to get stuck), getting a ring stuck on my finger...

That last thing meant I ended up at the fire station at 6:45 in the morning, getting my finger buttered up by a cute firefighter. It meant I left with my second-most-expensive piece of jewelry, my college ring, off of my finger via a cut through the band.

The rest of the weekend, however, was better!

Last night Good Man and I went out to a Vietnamese place for a one-year anniversary dinner. When we got there they said the wait would be 45-50 minutes. So we decided to go around the corner to the pastry shop to wait and start dinner backwards. Not 15 minutes later, just as we were finishing our dessert and coffee, we got a table.

I decided to wear the Korean hair pin (비녀) that traditionally indicated a woman was married. Of course, this is America and not Korea, so nobody else really knew what I was doing, but I did. I also wore the red shoes and red knit coat I wore to our legal ceremony, and I sported the penny I had in my shoe on a chain.

I rocked the binyeo with jeans. Heh.

비녀

My husband, meanwhile, needs a haircut.

Good Man

My brother happens to be in the state this weekend, and since he's shipping out to Afghanistan at the end of April, we made sure to meet for dinner.

Oh, Brother

Good Man and Johnny

Same Noses

I wore a binyeo again today, this time with the $280 price-tagged, found for $40 at Marshall's jacket. It's a cute jacket, but not $280 cute.