xtcian

5/9/03 Boston, MA My darling

5/9/03 Boston, MA

My darling Tessa has now been on this Earth 34 years as of today, and to honor it, we declared it her "birthday." It was a beautiful day here in Boston, and since we were up at 7am, we got to see a lot of it. We spent the morning at the Quaker school, attending class with our nephew, listening to Native Americans sing songs about jack rabbits, and nailing 3-pointers in the gym during recess. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I would have been a much more well-adjusted human if I'd gone to a Friends school. "Diversity" is a boring word used too much in the early '90s for it to mean anything to contrarians like me, but when you see it in action, you can truly forget for a few seconds that our country is run by divisive, right-wing, religious morons.

Tonight we went to the local high school's dance performance, and it was way better than it ought to have been. Despite the unfortunate self-consciousness of some female performers who were obviously just about to drown their inner Ophelia, the rest of them were pretty stoked. Our niece, who performed in three different pieces, was the obvious standout. It may sound obnoxious, but I grew up watching concerts where my family members were far-and-away the best thing on stage in any given moment. It's cool to think I'm marrying into a similar brood.

After the show, we surprised Tessa with a little cake, a time-signature-free rendition of "Happy Birthday" (still under copyright from the Hill sisters, thanks!) and then I gave her what everyone other red-blooded American wants: the new iPod. Like the guy at the Mac store in Albany snorted, "This li'l guy is ambrosia in solid form."

Happy birthday, baby! It's been exactly one year, and it remains the best answer in my life.