Long Distance Grandma

Davi and her grandmother, Rose, live half a world apart. Davi, age 6, was born and raised in the United States; while Grandma Rose, age 55, has been living in Indonesia forever. When Davi was born, grandma was there to greet her. She flew across the ocean to the United States for that special day. Unfortunately, grandma had to leave early because of the death oh her first son. Two months later, Davi returned the favor by visiting Indonesia for almost 4 weeks and travelled with grandma to Bali, Lombok, and Yogyakarta. The two bonded pretty strongly.

Davi and grandma share the same zodiac. Their birthdays are just a week apart. Being a Pisces, they are both sensitive, compassionate and kind. That’s why Davi is so special to grandma, plus the fact that she’s her first grandchild. Her pictures are all over grandma’s house; on the wall, the table, the shelf, the fridge,  by her bed, and for sure, in grandma’s purse.

The fact that she’s living so far away, aches grandma. She couldn’t see nor touch her first grandchild as often as a grandmother would like to. When Davi’s parent called long distance to have grandma hear Davi’s first laughter (or burp), it made grandma cries. Everytime she was emailed Davi’s pictures, she also cries. To watch her grow from a far distance, is not exactly fun. That’s why Davi’s parent try to keep the two communicate with each other so Davi won’t forget her.

The lack of use of Bahasa (Davi’s mom native language) at home makes Davi doesn’t understand it at all. Grandma Rose speaks a little English. Most of the time (in person or on the phone), the two seemed to be lost in translation. This made Davi somewhat discouraged to speak to grandma, and vice versa. So she found another way to communicate, through drawings and letters. Even though emails are much faster, snail mail is more personalized. Grandma Rose claimed that she almost had a heart attack when receiving a letter addressed to her from Davi. She said she like Davi’s handwriting and the way she wrote. Grandma then replied, also with a snail mail, which Davi received 2 weeks later.

However, Davi kept asking questions about Grandma Rose. About what she wears daily, what kind of house she lives in, if she can drive a car or not, her favorite color, etc. Davi’s mom tried to fill her in as best as she could, but it’s really hard for a seven-year-old to portray how life is over there without actually being there.

… then Davi’s mom found Sitti’s Secret at the library. This book is a perfect fit for Davi, because it tells a story about a girl who was born and raised in the US (her name is Mona) who visited her grandmother (sitti, in Arabic) in Palestina. Mona and sitti don’t speak the same language, they have to use Mona’s dad to translate; but they got along pretty good. The writer, Naomi Shihab Nye, wrote the story beautifully. Poetic, rather. Like the way she described how Mona was amazed with sitti’s custom and ritual which are different with how things are in the US.

With a help from her mother, Davi read the book with a great enthusiasm. She exclaimed that Mona is just like her and asked if she could visit Indonesia soon to see Grandma Rose. That sure would make grandma very happy!

Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank

 

With a cute tittle like that, who could resist picking the book up and start reading? Celia Rivenbark wrote 32 short essay about [mostly] parenting issues. The writer ‘attacked’ the garment industry (and all mothers who need to have their heads checked) for designing/creating thus dressing girls under 10 year old with skanky outfit. It’s heart breaking already for me to move my daughter from toddler clothes to little girl clothes. I was in Target to buy Davi’s kindergarten clothes last year and start panicking. I was pretty sure the area’s for girls age 5 or 6 but all I could see was clothes for age 18 at least. Super mini pink shorts with ‘Hottie’ written on the butt, skimpy skirts with glitters or lace (kind of Bratz-theme, isn’t it?) and not to mention trashy lookin’ shirts/dresses. I had to triple check to make sure that I’m in the right area. Then I found out that the ‘normal girl’ clothing is at the back, not in the easily-find middle area.

Celia also wrote a short essay about how a pain in the neck it was visiting Disneyland. I haven’t been there. I would have been like Celia herself, clueless about the ‘how to’ before you go to Disneyland (or while you’re there). These savvy moms would know the down low on every events at Disney. For instance, the early seating at Cinderella’s Gala Fest (psst… all girls will be wearing a princess’ costume, dya know that?). If you’re not good enough for Cinderella, you could also choose other [second best] characters’ breakfast. Still with the same deal: book early!

She went on and on ranting about her cluelessness in this first essay of the book, There’s Always Tomorrow(land): “If You Really Loved Me, You’d Buy Me Pal Mickey” (don’t you think the title’s just hilarious?).  The way she described her ongoing feud with her only daughter is so cute. The daughter wanted to do or have some things that other kids do or have (of course), mom’s disagree and tried to talk her way out of it with a smart ass comeback from the daughter. Too funny.

But after 11 short essays, I grew weary of it. Don’t know why. Feels like it’s a same thing over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all into bashing fake people and all that. And Celia is a brilliant writer and humorist. I bet she’s a spunky Southern lady and fun to be around with!

To get a feel on her book, read here for an excerpt. 

Women On The Edge

 

I’m in the middle of reading a book (or should I say comic?) by Maitena Burundarena called ‘Women On The Edge 1′. Maitena is a famous Latin-American cartoonist (was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina). You can’t help but laughing -at least smile- when you enjoy this book. Divided into several chapters, this book has one page of cartoon for each ‘issue’. Dedicated to all kind of woman (single, married, mom, teenager, etc), I found some similarities to my own’s. For example, under the issue of ‘Six things that upset a women’: being fat, not wearing the right clothes, being broke, being without cell phone restriction, smelling of onions, and when your ex hooks up with a goddess. Don’t we all ladies feel these at least once a week?

‘Eight things women do when they’re depressed’ according to Maitena are shop for clothes (how true!), get their hair styled, look in the mirror, sleep like a log eat like a pig (works for me the best!), call their friends, listen to very sad music, and ask themselves impossible questions. Personally, I would change the last one with ’smoking while crying’.

Hilarious book with great cartoon for all women who are not necessarily have to be on the edge to read this.