remember

homemade valentines

each year when i was a kid, we sat down as a family around a dining room table covered with doilies and magazines, glitter and stickers and made each other valentines.

september 10

on the evening of september 10, 2001, i took richard to sea-tac airport, where he left on the ba non-stop flight to london. i was supposed to join him two days later, as sarah, his sister, was getting married on the weekend.

i went out with friends for dinner that night, and when i got home to kirkland, late on the evening of the 10th, i had two voicemail messages on my home answering machine. one was a friend. the other was a prank caller. it was a male, american accented voice, calling from a public place the police later confirmed was likely a bus or train station. i could hear the crackle of voices in the background, and the voice said "in the names of all of the officers of your company." he then laughed, and hung up.

i don't like prank calls and didn't get them often. this one was odd but not threatening, but i still saved it, called my friend to let her know i was home, and i mentioned it to her. "strange." she said. i agreed. the next morning it seemed even stranger.

on september 11, i woke early and phoned my sister's house to chat with my sister and mom before leaving for the gym. they told me the news. richard had already called in the middle of the night to let me know he had arrived safely in england, several hours prior to the attacks.

i didn't make it to the gym or to sarah's wedding in the end. and the call may have been just a very odd coincidence, but i haven't forgotten it.

journey to st. petersburg

during my summer in moscow, i called one of my old professors who lives in st. petersburg and arranged to visit her by train. i bought my train ticket for the russian price, arguing with the woman who sold tickets that i shouldn't need to pay the tourist price since i lived in moscow. she gave in but would only sell me a single, so i had to go through the same thing on the way back home.

i enjoyed my weekend in st. petersburg, staying with natalia, my favourite professor from my undergraduate studies. it was a hot and muggy summer's night, and i slept with my bedroom window open, waking in the morning to mosquito bites covering the half of my face that wasn't up against the pillow.

cruising main street

the kansas legal driving age is sixteen, and since there isn't a lot to do as a teenager, one of the most common evening past times is cruising. when i was in high school we cruised up and down main street in conway springs, a street only about four blocks long, turning u-turns at each end and honking every time we passed friends or classmates in cars going the opposite direction. i remember one night a group of friends and i slowed down and opened the door on every u-turn, creating a pyramid of aluminum cans in the street, one can at a time, as we cruised slowly back and forth over the course of the evening.