thank you, ladies

My gratitude goes out to the ladies who visited us today from 2:20PM to a little after 5PM: they were three of the new WKWS officers for the upcoming year (roughly, fall 2009 to spring/summer 2010). I'm ashamed to say that I never caught the names of the vice president and the secretary, and didn't bother to ask, but later on, Dad told me that the new president is Mrs. Sawai. My congratulations to Mrs. LaPlant for finishing her 2008-09 term, and best of luck to the new officers.

One of the ladies brought along her adorable granddaughter, Ariana (I hope I'm spelling that right). Five-year-old Ariana and I set ourselves over at the dining room table while the grownups spoke with each other and with Mom in the living room. The ladies had kindly brought along bushels of fruit and other items as well; they invaded the kitchen and prepped some of the fruit, then ate and talked and laughed, taking time to ask me about Mom's condition and to compliment the house's renovation. The atmosphere was one of easy camaraderie; the ladies themselves later noted how happy they were, as new officers, to discover how well they were getting along with each other. I'm sure this augurs well for the coming WKWS year.

Ariana and I, off in our own world, explored the intricacies of the "Mario" universe as it was rendered on Ariana's tiny Nintendo handheld game system. Ariana-- who was extremely shy for all of three minutes before opening up-- showed me how Mario, a beloved video game character dating back at least to the early 1980s if not before, was able to perform a wide variety of tasks: he could collect coins, bounce evil turtles, avoid spiked walls, and leap across the tops of giant, swaying mushrooms. The world of Mario is a bizarre admixture of Hello Kitty-esque cuteness and sudden, Jurassic-style violence. Its was a kid-friendly way of affirming that nature is red in tooth and claw, but as Ariana sagely observed, "Kids' games don't have blood in them."

Along with Nintendo, Ariana and I made blue birthday cakes with Mom's Play-Doh, surfed the Net to look at different pet dogs and talked about color coordination for dresses. "My dress is pink and black!" Ariana declared. So were her shoes, as it turned out; even her Nintendo was pink.

The ladies ended their visit by singing to Mom; I can't say anything more about the song or the singing, because it's meant to serve a special purpose. Mom and I enjoyed the music, and before we knew it, it was time for everyone to leave. Ariana's grandmother noted that Ariana was far more relaxed and open than she normally was among strangers; to me, that's a good thing. I wished the ladies good luck with their new term, and Ariana waved goodbye. The ladies' visit left a warm afterglow; Mom was happy to see them.


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