the sweetest sound

I know that some day in the not-too-distant future, I'll be complaining and whining about how loud my washing machine is and how it's in the middle of the house so there's no escaping that noise, etc. etc.

But I'll tell you what. Right now, after so long without a washing machine of my own, it's the world's sweetest sound. Some women want an attic; I just want a washing machine. What that says about me? Let's not analyze.

The second sweetest sound? "Catch!" as Lavonne waits for me to be ready before he throws me the football as I'm loading NW's bottles into the back of my truck to haul for recycling, and Rahim says with arms outstretched on his scooter towards me, "I want to play with you!"

Again, I know how annoying kids can be - life in Elim was sometimes really annoying with kids always wanting to come over and play. I have some fun pictures of fun times - Delight vacuuming and Dakota Tai Boing and Garrett stuffing as many cookies as possible into his mouth and before that Ashley measuring flour to bake those cookies and Kim and Lorraine snuggling with Selma. I did have a lot of fun hanging out with kids - but I got tired of them ALWAYS being around, and they didn't understand moderation. So, now I'm grouchier, and kids won't be coming into my apartment. But I will play catch with them and stop traffic so they can get the ball out of the street and get them sidewalk chalk to make our surroundings oh-so-pretty. We've got some great kids around, and NW has really already developed rapport, so things are easy for me.

And she is probably my soulmate neighbor. Sure, I'm not thrilled about the music she plays pretty loudly, and there will be other things I find to really annoy me. But she asked why I moved here and I said I was tired of living over there in Uptown. "I totally get that." And she does. She just said to me, "I was living in Lower Garden District and it was the whitest neighborhood I've ever been in and it was just too much! This is New Orleans? I had to get out."

Exactly. Now, of course many of my best friends and favorite people are white. I don't discriminate in that way. But I don't want to be surrounded by white people all the damn time - especially not in a place as rich in personality as New Orleans. (I heard it was a "chocolate city" and I just keep wondering where those fountains of chocolate are flowing!)

And, NW said if I ever feel like I want a dog, she'd be happy to let me have one for the night. I said I'll think about it once her back is better and she can bathe them again. :) That's probably what I miss least about having a dog - especially with Selma, because grabbing dog towels or the dog shampoo or saying anything remotely like bath (she can even recognize b-a-t-h spelled out now), and she is GONE. Hiding, pitiful, and making me feel all guilty on top of doing something I really don't enjoy. That's why it was so great when she was a puppy and Amy and I were both living in Susan's house - she had three adults to housetrain her, walk her, bathe her, socialize her, etc. But being a single parent to a puppy - I don't think I'd want to do it.

Oh! And I got curtains! I'm so excited!