18.1 Weeks Along - To Body Surf or Not To Body Surf....That IS the Question...Well, According to My Little (but taller than me) Sister, Amanda!

So after seeing "Red Eye" last night, (was ok I suppose, could have waited for the DVD though) I get a call from my sister Amanda. She's out in California with the parental units, working, etc...saving to move [back] to Hotlanta, blah blah blah.... So we're talking about all sorts of things and get on the topic of her coming out here for a visit which she's planning on doing at the end of September. And I'm going on and on and on about the trees and trying to time her visit just right so that she gets to experience the explosion of colour with the fall foliage that we New Englanders are famous for - amongst other things.

So I mention that by the time she gets here it will probably be too late to take a dip in the ocean and that's too bad because she can body surf, as I've been learning how to body surf and it's so much fun.

Now hold on before you go and get your knickers in a knot over this, like Amanda did, who I am sure is still untwisting those bad boys as we speak.

My doctor ok'd it as long as I did it when the water was not too wild and there hadn't been any big storms (that's when all the surfers are out and the waves are wicked great!) and that I was careful. I swim almost everyday anyhow - at the community center- and am fairly confident in the ocean. My doctor suggested limits and I have adhered to them...strictly!

So I mention body surfing to Amanda and it's like there is this vocal explosion on the west coast!

"what the hell...no way, nuh uh! Not my niece or nephew, that poor baby is probably all woozy ....ahhh hell no! Woman, what the hell are you doing body surfing?"

And I tell her it's just fun and relaxing and the worst that's happened is my knees got a tiny bit scraped up because they got dragged along the ocean floor. And it's not like I'm in San Diego or along one of the west coast beaches that we used to visit as kids growing up where the water tends to be a lot more violent and the waves a lot bigger. I liken the experience to being in a "people mover" of sorts. Well this just sends Amanda into another round of hell no's and no ways and "what the hell are you thinking"....I guess you had to be on the phone with us. It was kind of funny. The people mover thing got all sorts of amusing comments from her. We both, if I do say so myself, have great senses of humour and while mine can be dry and sarcastic, hers is more urban, caustic and very sharp and cutting....

I did try and assure her that I am far too bouyant to really be successful at body surfing but she none-the-less persisted that it can't be good for the baby and that I must be swallowing so much sea water as to make peanut both dehydrated and ill.

Bollocks!

*lol* She's too funny sometimes. And peanut seems very happy to me. And besides, I spit and never swallow!

We did talk about other things too, as sisters are wont to do from time to time. And it was during this conversation I was struck by the fact that Amanda is indeed growing up. I mentioned earlier that she's very urban. And I don't mean this in bad way. It's actually a compliment. She is my mother's lost "soul-child". While I got the "Martha Stewart gene" (which, coincidentally enough, Amanda has expressed an interest in and I couldn't be happier - I'm going to help her cultivate and coax it out, when the time comes) Amanda got the, "soul, urban, hip-hop gene"...My other sister Diana got the, "blonde, blue eyed wild but articulate gene" and our baby brother Jacob got computer chips instead of genes.

I'm kidding about Jacob....well maybe just a little. He's a walking brain, who I really think got the "computer-geek" gene in spades from our dad, got the "brain gene" from our Mom but it's like on crack or something when it comes to Jacob and I think he managed to replicate his very own unique "internet gene" and code it himself for characterists unique to himself. Oh and he got the much prized "anime gene" as well which in that respect he shares a common bond with my husband Gareth and my brother in law, Tim. Jacob is the coolest brother though. He's smart, and has a sense of humour that in one punch leaves you laughing, and in the next leaves you stinging a bit because you just realize you've been cut down a bit. It's like a time-released capsule. The best thing about my baby brother is that he cares about his family.

Oh and all three of my siblings got the "tall gene". The gene fairy happened to skip me on that visit. Bitch!

Anyhow, back to Amanda. She's 25 now and it just sort of hit me that she's really coming into her own. We were talking about schools out in San Bernardino county, in California where they live, teaching EBONICS in school! Imagine that, Ebonics! I told her it had been all over the talk-radio news programs here and was fodder for a few days. I happen to think it's the stupidest thing I have ever heard and Amanda agreed that it was stupid and was able to articulate her position very well. Not that that surprised me, it was just....I can't describe it. I think it was some talking points she brought up about the inaneness of it.

It was a very interesting conversation and I'm looking forward to having her come visit. I can drag her to all my favourite places around here, take her out on a lobster boat, and spend time sharing with her the delicate art of decorating common household items with seashells...and *in my most martha-esque voice* that's a good thing!

In the spirit of Ebonics, I leave you with the following:

The Ebonics Version of the Lord's Prayer

Yo, Big Daddy upstairs,
You be chillin
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this here hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack, Blood
Sos I be doin' it to dem dat diss me
don't be pushing me into no jive
and keep dem Crips away
'Cause you always be da Man
Aaa-men

Should you need to cleanse your palate, here is the original version, I mean, it is Sunday afterall....

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.