?, Saturday July 25, D's basement ....babyless

The sun came back out today. D and I went to State Street to listen to a folk duo, and we ate lunch at a Nepalese/Indian/Tibetan restaurant. It wasn’t much like New York or Australian Nepalese/Tibetan food but was absolutely delicious. I had grilled marinated tofu with vegies, and rice with spinach. It sounds basic but the sauces were unidentifiably lovely. D's sister C and her boyfriend joined us at the restaurant. C's boyfriend was friendly and chatty and enjoyable to be with.

We all head off to a street fair where the three of us gals got a free iridology consultation. My eyes say that I have a strong constitution but, as a result, I take too much on and get stressed. This means I have to watch my vitamin levels, especially B. Also, I have liver issues and should watch the type of fats I eat or learn to regularly detoxify my liver.

We didn’t spend too much time at the fair. We wandered with microbrew in our hands and peered at the arts and goods in the stalls. People here in Madison look healthy, clean cut, normal.

D and her husband's dog Barley is down here with me, breathing heavily. His sleepy rhythmic breathing has been keeping us company, a relaxing soundtrack behind the chaos of children.

Yesterday D, her youngest son B, and I drove down to Willy Street and ate Laotian food. D had a mango curry and I had noodles and tofu with spicy sauce. I ate my first egg roll in many years (Chinese restaurants don't have them here in Australia) and enjoyed my meal thoroughly, though it was more Thai-like than Vietnamese-like. D was unable to sit down as B was in the mood for exploration. She chased him around the nearly empty restaurant, flipped him, threw him, twirled him. Lucky boy.

That evening D's husband, L, cooked us grilled mushrooms stuffed with gorgonzola, and I helped make garlic bread. I nursed a few glasses of Pymm’s and ginger ale. I had never drunk Pymm’s before and I love it – a refreshing, cool vegetabley flavour.

After dinner D and I went to see Moon at the Sundance theatre. The movie wasn’t as good as I had hoped. But then, I didn’t know what it was supposed to be about other than that it was a psychological space mystery. And I don’t find the subject of clones to be particularly interesting.

D and I have stayed up late in the nights having good, long heartfelt chats about our lives, personalities, confusions and desires. It is great being with her. Just because we spent formative years together does not mean we would get on now or be similar. And in many ways we are very different, yet we have a similar way of viewing ourselves in the world at a very basic level. Is that the NY suburbs? Mothers that were drawn to each other, though they were not close friends? Or something essential in us that drew us together even when we were 3?

We’ve grown up very differently, have made different choices, and yet here we are, vaguely dissatisfied, questing, questioning, and looking for more.