This morning, grandma and I ran off to "stomping class," a title she affectionately gives her daily exercise class at the community lodge (haha). The exercises seem to be a blend of line dancing and hopping around to tunes from the 1950's and 60's. All the ladies sing along while skipping around the room.
Back at the house, I finished writing letters to incoming freshman at William & Mary. In the letters, I invite them to check out Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) on campus, a Christian student club at The College. Grandpa wanted to know a little more about the group and inquired about the church with which RUF is affiliated (Presbyterian). In Holland, he said, Dutch Protestantism consists of two branches: "Christian Reformed" and "Reformed" (Nederlandse [Dutch] Hervormde [Reformed] Kerk [Church]). He wondered aloud if there was any connection.
Before lunch, we drove to the Farmer's Market down the road. It is managed by an extensive group of Amish families in Pennsylvania. My grandparents made a beeline for the bread and cookie aisles. Grandma confessed, "It's almost the week-end and we're running out of cookies. If we don't buy cookies today, we'll run into a dire situation." I believe it. We left grocery store with two packages of cookies. I thought we were done, but how wrong I was! Instead of driving home, we sped off to the grocery store across the street. No joke: they bought EIGHT more packages of cookies plus an apple pie. Eight? Goodness gracious. While filing the groceries into the fridge and pantry back home, grandpa showed me the bread box that sits inside. "This storage box filled with cookies is for rainy days," he asserted, half-joking.
My grandparents relish cookies like treasured gems. It must be a Dutch thing. You must understand - for them, buying cookies is like test-driving a car or trying out a new brand of toothpaste; it's a thrilling endeavor. Perhaps a reminder that the small, often overlooked elements of life are what make it special?
During lunch, we watched The Charlie Rose Show. A British author was interviewed about his new novel about the "sexual revolution" in the 1970s. Charlie Rose kept pressing him to elaborate on what it is like to craft a novel all about sex. I found myself blushing and focusing intently on the contents of my soup and sandwich. Meanwhile, grandpa chuckled loudly. Grandma, in accordance with her free spirit and curiosity, followed the program with interest.
Grandma has always been a very relaxed and liberal-minded person (I have no objections). This usually translates into her being very bold as far as "personal space bubbles" go. Last night, I told grandma that I a bug bite on my lower back. This morning, instead of asking me how it felt, grandma came up to me from behind and lifted up my shirt! HA. She is a feisty one, and I confess I inherited a large portion of her silliness. I love her to pieces.
We just returned from the community pool. There, grandma and I swam a few laps and chatted with the other sun-bathers. To my surprise, the lifeguard was a young guy from Serbia! I was thrilled at the chance to meet someone from the Balkans after my internship in DC last Spring. He is from a small town in eastern Serbia and came to work in the US for the summer. He wrote down his e-mail address and asked me to contact him if I was ever in Serbia. Soon after, out walked another lifeguard: a young gentleman from Bulgaria. The three of us had a great conversation about life in America and I was happy to leave with two new friends from the Balkans! Whatever line of work I end up in after graduation, I hope that I can use my degree in International Relations to meet and work with people around the world. I've always been a bit shy, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying getting to know new people. :)
Sending love from Annapolis.
