It was Rooster’s birthday yesterday, and although I am notorious for being a bad gift-giver, I put together a doozy of a celebration. Of course, in our new life, all a doozy of a celebration means is more than two consecutive days with the baby. And that’s just what we got: a road trip to Galena, Illinois. We stayed at my aunt’s there’s-a-whirlpool-in-my-bathroom time share just outside town. Naomi slept in her travel bed in the closet, and we slept in a king bed like, well, kings.
Our first day in town I ordered the world’s best bloody mary, complete with a stick of bacon cozying up to my straw. Ironically enough, the home of the Bacon Bloody Mary was where we met Galena’s only Israeli Jew. He was so tickled to see us, “I thought you were Jewish, you know how? Your nose,” that he gave us his card and told us that next time we were in town we could stay with him. Afterwards, Rooster and I compared notes. Rooster was thinking, gosh what a friendly guy. I was thinking, don’t say the J-word so loud, what if this is one of those small towns where they hate Jews…which is one of the hazards of reading too many books about the Holocaust at synagogue book club.
Baby Bird was a good traveler. She took a swim in the whirlpool, went on a ghost-tour and discovered that she really digs ceiling fans. I discovered that the video camera doesn’t lie and that it is time to start jogging.
