Sunday, October 21, 2007

Waiting for Mimi



Caption: Mimi, on the night of the St. Mary’s High School class of 1957 reunion.

At about 11 a.m., the interrogation began. “When is Mimi coming?” Have patience, Theo and Natalie. Your grandmother will be coming later in the afternoon, sometime around 3:30 p.m. Theo had a follow up question: “When is Mimi coming?”

At 2 p.m. on an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon, the children and Margie are standing outside, looking hopefully down the street. At 3 p.m., Kevin Donahue from across the street comes across to visit. The children are pre-occupied. “When is Mimi coming?” they ask.

Finally, we get the call from Mimi: “I’m on Amboy Avenue, and I’m about to turn into your street.” By this time, though, the children are reading a book with their mother in the living room. Only Daddy is outside to greet her.

Mimi is visiting Metuchen in advance of her 50th High School Reunion – St. Mary’s of Perth Amboy. She’s coming to spend the night, and she’s bring bags of gifts, a matter of great excitement for the children, who peek out the door at their grandmother and her treasures.

(We will pass over Mimi’s reunion, the bulk of which occurred while the Clarks of New Jersey slept. Perhaps you will learn more in one of her mass e-mails.)

On the following day, the children were excited to bring Mimi to Edison’s Skylark Diner, where our waiter Ehab’s professionalism ensured that Mimi’s eggs would be loose, just as she likes them. Later, while Margie engaged in group meditation, Dad took Mimi and the kids shopping for Theo’s Halloween costume. Ever-generous, Mimi plucked a pumpkin placemat off the shelf for little Natalie – “It’s only $2.99,” Mimi said. Natalie developed an inseparable attachment to that placemat by the time we got in the checkout line. That’s when we discovered the actual price of the placemat: $12.99!

Still, Mimi paid for the placemat. Generous Mimi, the Clarks of New Jersey salute you!

2 comments:

asplashofsunshine said...

That's what Mimi's are for... I'll bet if Theo found the perfect placemat, Mimi would have bought that too. By the way, great pic of Aunt Joyce!

mimiandpoppy said...

Just to make things even I did offer to get Theo one and he declined the offer. He was just happy with his Spiderman costume.

There really is NO placemat worth $12.95 except the beautifully beaded one that Natalie is cherishing to this day. It was my pleasure to purchase it, as dhe is the sweetest thing!!!