1. Danielle and Camille enjoyed a Monday night sleepover at Molly's and this morning I began to receive text messages that the three of them were up and at it around 8:15 and some breakfast might be in my near future. So, after I took the Deke to school and took care of some things in our apartment home, I bolted over to Molly's for some eggs and coffee and smiled inside at the sight of Danielle, Camille, and Molly's enjoyment of each other.
2. Before taking Danielle and Camille to the airport, I hosted them as my guests at the Greenbelt Aquatic Center. The outdoor pool opened over the weekend and Danielle and Camille relaxed in the pool and reclined for a while poolside. I, on the other hand, flopped and splashed around in the indoor pool. I worked out. I finished at just the right time for the three of us to shower and climb back into the Sube and hurtle up to the Baltimore Washington International Airport and the end of their supremely fun weekend visit. I had a blast.
3. As I drove back to Greenbelt from the airport, I enjoyed thinking about the full day I had on Saturday down at the National Mall and later at the Right Proper Brewing Production House. When I sat down Sunday morning to write about that day, I forgot to mention something that occurred and it came back to me today. Here it is:
I was strolling from Union Station to the grounds of the U. S. Capitol and I saw a guy in his twenties sitting at the base of the Columbus Fountain. I stopped. Impulsively, I startled him by saying, "Wow! You're reading Pedro Paramo!" I loved working with Juan Rulfo's classic magical realism novel when I taught World Literature and today was the first time I'd ever seen anyone reading it outside of a school setting. I asked him how he was doing with it and he said he thought it was starting to come together and I assured him that the deeper he got into the book the more sense it would make. I didn't want to take up much of his time, so I asked him if he were reading Pedro Paramo for enjoyment -- not as a school assignment. He said he was. I again uttered a Wow! and told him he'd just made my day.
He gave me one of those Ohhh..Kay...looks, smiled uncertainly, and I moved on with a quick I'm harmless wave of the hand and let the wonderful memories of working with that book at LCC wash over me as I sauntered on toward the Capitol.
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