Gardens

What a beautiful day filled with gifts.  I remember what a gift it was when I drove home from Virginia with my mom and listened to The Vines for three hours.  It was also a gift when me, my mom, and dad wrote our names on a piece of concrete in South Philly.  They smiled and I loved their smiles so much.  So much.

Today was another gift. Every minute, every second.

I drove up to see my beautiful parents and grandmother.  We went out and had a nice dinner.  I looked across the table at my brittle little grandmother.  I wanted to sit across from her because I wanted to see her cute little fragile body.  I love it.  I love her.  I love her tiny arms, her blond blond hair.  I love the way she moves.  All of the years flowing through her veins are beautiful to me.

We ate.  We ate a lot.  Then we went to a store.  My parents offered to buy me an outfit.  I declined.  I should be buying them outfits.  I love them so much for all they've done for me.

So then we went to the mall and headed into a record store.  Dad said "Nikki, do you know who Cat Stevens is?"  I hesitated and said "I don't think so."  He said, "Psht, oh my GOD."  Then he bought me a Cat Stevens album.  He said "Nikki, every time you're stressed out, listen to these three songs."  He pointed to three. I promised I would.

He took us far out of the way on the way back to my grandmother's house.  He brought me to the peaches in his back yard.  He picked one for me and said "eat it, it's clean, they're organic."  So I did, I ate it right there and was covered in peach juice.  My parents' stray kitties walked around the yard.  I went into their house and there was a bowl on the counter with fresh food in it for the stray kitties.

And then we went to my grandmother's house and she was so happy to have us there.  She said "let's sit out on the back porch."  A few minutes later she came right on out with vanilla ice cream cones for us.  I love her.  And after my parents left, she sat in her kitchen and gossiped with me about past and current loves.  She then sent me on my merry way with a bag of snack foods, like always.

I went back to my parents' house real quick because I forgot to give them the syrup I bought them from a berry farm.  Then my dad showed me some.. pieces.. from.. someone's graden.  Hahaha.

I love my crazy family.  I do.  Today I was talking about my dad with my roommate and I said, "Well now you know where I got it from."  She looked at her girlfriend and she said "Yeah, that's true."  Her girlfriend immediately agreed.