Way To Go, Kai!
I am the eldest of 4: My sister, Gail, my brother, Aaron, and my sister, Kai. Gail and I are 3 years apart and by necessity and, at least on my part, genuine affection, we grew up fairly close. As is usual in our world, our parents split up and re-married, something that has worked out quite well, as both our parents married lovely people, who never would have been in our lives otherwise. My mother, amazing woman that she is, had 2 more children with my step-dad. Aaron was born my senior year in high school and Kaitlin was born the day I started med school. I went to orientation and then to the hospital and held her for the first time. What an amazing day. Given the age gap and busy lives, sadly we are not close, so it was incredibly wonderful when the phone rang last night.
It took a few minutes to figure out what the call was about as the person on the other end was so giddy, shrieking and laughing with glee, that Charles couldn't understand a word for a full 2 minutes. He finally deciphered the word "Diana" and passed the phone to me. It was, I believe, the 1st phone call from Kai, ever. (Which makes it one more call than from me to her, ever.) She had apparently just received a letter of acceptance from University of British Columbia, complete with a scholarship for next year! Much rejoicing!
We here, at the Piffle household, are particularly partial to things UBC, as Charles was there for his 1st year of grad school, before we moved back down to Portland. It was one of the best years of his life and where he learned to write very well, something that was quite painful in the process, but has been invaluable. And what a fantastic city in which to go to school! Vancouver, BC. Clean, gorgeous, hip. Yes, the hint of envy is real. I love Vancouver. And Canadians. So, lucky, lucky Kai! You deserve it, sweetie. And now we have an "in" to the UBC bookstore cache of UBC sweatshirts. For some reason, they only have a couple available online, none of which are appealing. The one Charles owns has literally been worn to ribbons, yet wear it he does. So nice of Kai to make her choice of college for our benefit.
And here, once again, I am amazed by the switch into spring. The last of the snow melted Saturday, not counting the piles in the shopping center parking lots, which have gone from 10 Ft mounds to 3 foot hills. Yesterday, the grass turned from brown to green and the daffodils started to bloom. Leaves should be out in 2 weeks or less. We found a mosquito in the house Sunday. The construction of the stone raised garden bed is underway, painfully and slowly. It got up to 80 yesterday. The wild turkeys are in heat, filling the air with Gobble!Gobble!Gobble! A pair of pheasants seem to be house hunting in our back yard and a herd of deer stopped us in the road for a minute or 2 while they all sauntered across, a few hundred feet from our driveway this morning.
Now, finally, join me in a cheer in your deepest, growly voice:
UBC! UBC! UBC!
Goooooo Thunderbirds!
(Yeah, Kai!)
It took a few minutes to figure out what the call was about as the person on the other end was so giddy, shrieking and laughing with glee, that Charles couldn't understand a word for a full 2 minutes. He finally deciphered the word "Diana" and passed the phone to me. It was, I believe, the 1st phone call from Kai, ever. (Which makes it one more call than from me to her, ever.) She had apparently just received a letter of acceptance from University of British Columbia, complete with a scholarship for next year! Much rejoicing!
We here, at the Piffle household, are particularly partial to things UBC, as Charles was there for his 1st year of grad school, before we moved back down to Portland. It was one of the best years of his life and where he learned to write very well, something that was quite painful in the process, but has been invaluable. And what a fantastic city in which to go to school! Vancouver, BC. Clean, gorgeous, hip. Yes, the hint of envy is real. I love Vancouver. And Canadians. So, lucky, lucky Kai! You deserve it, sweetie. And now we have an "in" to the UBC bookstore cache of UBC sweatshirts. For some reason, they only have a couple available online, none of which are appealing. The one Charles owns has literally been worn to ribbons, yet wear it he does. So nice of Kai to make her choice of college for our benefit.
And here, once again, I am amazed by the switch into spring. The last of the snow melted Saturday, not counting the piles in the shopping center parking lots, which have gone from 10 Ft mounds to 3 foot hills. Yesterday, the grass turned from brown to green and the daffodils started to bloom. Leaves should be out in 2 weeks or less. We found a mosquito in the house Sunday. The construction of the stone raised garden bed is underway, painfully and slowly. It got up to 80 yesterday. The wild turkeys are in heat, filling the air with Gobble!Gobble!Gobble! A pair of pheasants seem to be house hunting in our back yard and a herd of deer stopped us in the road for a minute or 2 while they all sauntered across, a few hundred feet from our driveway this morning.
Now, finally, join me in a cheer in your deepest, growly voice:
UBC! UBC! UBC!
Goooooo Thunderbirds!
(Yeah, Kai!)
Labels: Drivel
posted by Diana at 8:19 AM
7 Comments:
Mazel tov! Good for Kai! Also, lovely name - I knew it from German but it's a bloke's name, I like it LOADS!
Your daffodils, turkeys, deer et all had me salivating. I BADLY want to leave Lisbon but am stuck here till I graduate, 1357 years from now. Hell! Spring is my favourite season. Which leads me to pics. PICS! Thank you.
(I passed Virology. Wave the rattlesnake.)
Many congratulations to Kai and her family. I remember another young woman in another time receiving notice of her acceptance to medical school. She couldn't speak coherently for several minutes....
RF
Congrats to Kai.
That paragraph about what's going on in your backyard left me breathless. Glad spring has finally arrived.
L- A large glass of Mazel Tov for you, too! Funny that it is a guy's name in Germany, here it is one of the top 20 girls' names. Yes, the wild critters are fun, including the baby bunny we sheltered in the room off the deck last summer for several weeks. More pics coming, insatiable you.
R- Oh, yeah, when it happens, it knocks you off your feet, as you well remember. As I am such a spring nut, I think I like the 5 month Portland springs better than the compressed 4 week midwest ones, but I'll take it any way I can.
Dad- I can remember that day as well. I sat on the stairs stunned, thinking that I was actually going to get to do what I had always dreamed of doing. Still makes me all warm and fuzzy, even on a bad clinic day.
I had a sense of "deja vu" (sp?) reading that. I, too, have a sister closer in age and then 2 younger siblings that were born in similar circumstances to yours while I was in high school. It always frustrates me when people have to compartmentalize it all for me and figure out the "halves and fulls" of it. My father and darling step-mother bent over BACKWARDS to make us a complete family, but others can't accept it when I just say "sister" or "brother". Sigh.
Ah, but yes where was I? Congratulations, Kai!
Hi Cagey,
As my mum likes to say, she had her own grandkids. Both my (step) parents call me their daughter, and rightly so. I remember getting to teach my brother his ABCs over one summer in college, which was very wonderful. I think you and I are the lucky ones!
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