Kathy’s Aunt Linda is here for a visit and it is such a hoot to have her here. There’s some kind of extra electricity in the air when she’s around, and yet she’s also such an easy guest to have in our home. She is nicely self-sufficient and easy-going but also anxious to be shown a good time – what could be better than that? And even though she hails from St. Louis which has so much to offer, she always seems so appreciative of what she gets to experience in little old Racine. (unlike some visitors from big cities who seem to go out of their way to say things like “this is pretty good, but if you really want good sushi, there’s this place back in San Francisco that is to die for!” Thanks but no thanks.)
Both Kathy and I are big fans of Linda, but without a doubt the president of Linda’s fan club right now is Lorelai. The two of them have hit it off famously… thanks at least in part to the wonderful presents that Linda brought with her. Chief among them is a cool little game / toy called Crocodile Dentist. . . which is a plastic alligator head with a big mouth that opens to reveal 16 teeth that can be pushed in. Each time you open up the crocodile’s mouth there is a different tooth that is geared to make the mouth snap shut when that particular tooth is pressed down. . . so each and every time you have no way of knowing which tooth will be the one. It was a perfect game for Lorelai, who is starting to revel in the excitement of unpredictability. (She is young enough to still enjoy our jack-in-the-box, even though she knows exactly in the song when the lid will suddenly pop up – there is no mystery or surprise involved anymore. But you can also tell that the days are drawing to a close where it will entertain her the way it does now.)
It is neat to see Linda and Lorelai together for many reasons- but perhaps chief among them is that Lorelai’s Grandma Jan (Kathy and Polly’s mom) is no longer with us and Lorelai has only the vaguest memories of her. But if she can’t be here, at least her one and only sister can be- and when Linda is here, stirring up excitement, it feels like her older sister is lurking behind the scenes, smiling and laughing and loving us from across the great divide.
pictured: Linda and Lorelai in the middle of a game of Crocodile Dentist.