Don'a bitch! and other Luluisms; also, what I did on my summer vacation

Lulu is learning English quickly, but so far she speaks with a faintly Italian accent. As in "don'a pinch!" "don'a hit!", and her all-purpose phrase, a combination of don't hit/pinch/mess with me: "don'a bitch!" I believe, and hope, that she is merging the sounds of pinch and touch. She also says "scusa me!" for "excuse me", and "thassa my!" for "that's mine." She is concise and emphatic in her expression, good qualities!

My "vacation" is over, and I am back to work. It was lovely being home. I especially enjoyed the freedom from feeling pressured to go to sleep! When I'm working, I feel I am rushing through the evening, trying to get to bed by the official deadline. So I can get up on time, of course. Why doesn't it work???? Already, I am in trouble for being late to the office.

Highlights of my summer vacation, besides the obvious ones of Lulu and China, include:

June 26: A trip to Concord to attend the service for Hawthorne's wife and daughter, Sophia and Una, who were brought there from London to be re-interred in the Hawthorne gravesite. After Nathaniel's death, Sophia and their three children went to live in London, where Sophia and Una died and were buried. Hawthorne's youngest daughter, Rose, converted to Catholicism and founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, and somehow the Dominican order became responsible for the gravesite. Recently, a tree planted next to their graves fell over, damaging Una's grave. When the sisters were notified that the grave would need extensive and costly repairs, they decided to bring Sophia and Una's bodies back to Concord.

So, of course, being a total Hawthorne freak, a firm believer in poetic justice, and a seeker of examples of eternal love, I had to go. I brought Gail and Lulu along.

It was a beautiful, meaningful ceremony, attended by Hawthorne's descendants, Dominican nuns, and fans like me, with readings from Nathaniel's and Sophia's love letters, poetry by Thoreau, and musical selections from the period. Also, fabulous food. I sat there, basking in the language and the music, with my beautiful Lulu on my lap, and thought happily how much like good fiction life can be: the eternal love affair between two artists, their reunion after death via the intersession of Catholic nuns, a 4 year old Chinese girl transported from tropical Nanning to a literary welcome home for a 19th century family . . .

Another glorious highlight: on July 4, visiting my very first friend, Gigi, and her family, including my gorgeous goddaughter Maria, Gigi's husband Ben, and Gigi's mom Marge, who was my Girl Scout leader, my hostess at countless sleepovers, lunches, "happenings" . . . and the person who introduced me, via Gigi, to Little Women, The Fairy Doll, and many other wonderful books--
while Libby and Lulu ran around and around the house, we talked, and watched the World Cup match between Germany and Italy. We were rooting for Italy! What a game! Now on to Sunday, when Italy goes against France. Hmmmmm . . . who to support???? For family's sake, Vive la France!

For more about the Hawthornes, look at Megan Marshall's The Peabody Sisters.