The transitive property of equality states for any real numbers a, b, and c: If a = b and b = c, then a = c
Lindsay secretly loves math:
“One of us needs to walk Gatsby.
Walking Gatsby means putting on pants.
Therefore, you are walking Gatsby.”
Today is my father’s father’s 90th birthday. Lindsay and I returned from DC this morning after a very, very large party yesterday at my dad’s house, featuring Pop Pop and about 60 descendants. We had lots of barbecue. We finished the beer. We introduced Lindsay to people she didn’t expect to be related to.
One person, though, who we sorely missed was my late grandma Nina. In her life, she set a high example for love of family and community, for how to be charitable, for what it meant to be Catholic even.
Most religions—but especially Catholic and Orthodox Christianity—place a strong emphasis on hagiography: of honoring great lives through words and imagery. My father’s family traditionally hasn’t been one for speeches, which makes honoring a great life hard even at a 90th birthday party, but the Scot-Irish in us wants to tell stories, so we end up doing everything obliquely. For example, the family yesterday made a scrapbook. Lindsay, who never got a chance to meet my grandmother, and I managed to design the final page. So we printed out this photo for Pop Pop…
…of me as a toddler with my grandmother. And I had Lindsay write, in her eminently lovely handwriting, “We’re so lucky to have so many great ladies in our lives.”
So Pop Pop: happy birthday. We miss her too.
Lindsay: somebody bought our steak knives
Andrew: !
woot!
oh wait
steak knives
Lindsay: yeah
Andrew: damnit
Lindsay: ones for steak
Andrew: I WANT OUR BIG KNIFFIES!
Lindsay: and our pots and pans
I know I know
Andrew: come on, you can’t threaten anyone with pots and pans…
…unless you ask them to “pop off”
Conversation between me and Linds after her doctor’s appointment this morning:
Lindsay: oh and she asked if I was in an abusive relationship because of the huge ass bruise on my thigh. i laughed and said no i am just a klutz
Andrew: did she really?
Lindsay: Yeah but all doctors have to ask that
Andrew: please tell me you didn’t say, “uh, i walked into a door”
Lindsay: no I told her the truth
I walked into a bike in spinning class
she was like yeah that has to be true because it is so ridiculous
