I had such an amazing birthday dinner Saturday. My sister and niece flew in Friday from California to be a part of it and, poor things, experienced some “Holy crap, are we going to crash” type turbulence coming into Houston. Not only that, they had to plow through 1-3 feet of floodwaters to get to their hotel. Oh well. It’s a rental. But they soldiered on and were good sports about it, rewarding themselves with a BBQ dinner at a fun and raucous honkey tonk. Not many of those in Cali. How they did it, I don’t know, but they chowed down a couple of donuts at Shipley’s at a calorie count of probably 10,457 apiece. Yum. Then I fixed everyone brunch Saturday morning: fresh baked croissants (almond, chocolate and plain) along with berries and homemade créme fraiche. That evening, we had dinner at Season’s 52. We had our own little room (which was good because when my family gets together we’re so boisterous that people probably don’t want to be within a 200 yard radius of us.) Along with Rune and me, my daughter, Kristina and her husband, Houston, my other daughter, Michelle and her fiancé, Nick, my youngest, Annika, my son, Lukas, our medium friend, Robert–you know him–Houston’s parents’ Lisa and Grant, and of course my sisters, Teri and Laura, my brother-in-law, Jim and my cousin, Fiona were all in attendance. The food, wine and company was wonderful. I’m so grateful for my lovely family and friends, including those who couldn’t come (and that means you guys.) That was an evening of pure joy.

On that note, I was reflecting on my sense of joy. In the past, when I’ve looked back on my life, I could only remember a handful of joyful times, and I asked myself, “What does joy really feel like?” Everyone else seemed to have an idea. For instance, Rune goes ape shit when he looks out over the breathtaking scenery in Norway. Me, it’s like, ‘Meh. It’s aight.’ I know on an intellectual level that the view is pretty, but I’ve seen it millions of times so now it doesn’t strike me on an emotional level. I’m not sure if it ever did. Seeing that I didn’t get that same rush as Rune did kind of spoiled moments like those. I’ve never had that intense euphoria that I thought should go with a sense of joy. But then, at my last appointment, my psychiatrist pointed out that my definition of joy might be a little too idealistic. I don’t have to have that, “squeal at the top of my lungs, can barely breathe” feeling. I can just feel calm. Content. At peace. Now those feelings I can remember. Those feelings I’ve had. In my reflection, I’ve learned that if you want to be happier, lower your expectations. Any good feeling is a treasure. So quick being such a whiny, little bitch, Elisa.

Since I’m taking off for this last day with my sis and bro-in-law, here’s a retread. Tomorrow, the new stuff begins again. 

Me: Okay, a lot of people want to know whether or not the whole 911 tragedy was some sort of conspiracy created by our government.

Erik: Um, it was not a conspiracy, no. The failure of 911 is that the government actually knew that it could happen just like it did, and they did not protect us. They just felt, uh, they thought it was so outrageously understood that it could never happen in America, so they didn’t do what they needed to do to prevent it. Yeah, they’ve known about it for more than a decade before it happened.

Me: Yeah, just like the space shuttle. We took our safety for granted. Oh, here’s one. Do our founding fathers have any advice for us, like Jefferson, Washington, Benjamin Franklin? You know, eventually I want to have longer channeling sessions with them, but for now, given all the trouble we’re in, what can they tell us that will help?

Jamie: Um.

(Long pause)

Jamie: He went to go get one of them.

Me: Oh, okay! Good! They’d probably be rolling in their graves if they were in them.

Jamie: Not in their graves.

Me (laughing(: Yeah, I know.

Jamie: Oh, but definitely—oh, he’s back. Erik, are you kidding me?

Jamie giggles.

Jamie: I got choked up all of a sudden. And with him is a man named George Washington.

Jamie laughs hard.

Me (chuckling): Oh, “a man named George Washington.” Okay. Hey, Georgie!

Erik: Okay Mom, so I got him. Whaddya wanna ask him?

Me: Well, it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President. So, what do you think? Are we living the dream you helped create? I’m a great admirer of yours.

Jamie: Hmm. He actually has a modern talk to him. Not very old school. You know, he kind of looks more modern, but he has on a longer kind of a petticoat looking thing on. His hair is white. It’s not puffy or anything. It’s pulled back in a little ponytail like in the 60s, like a hippie.

Washington: My dear, the country has lost sight of what we founded.

Me: Tell me about it!

Washington: They should have immediately—

(Pause)

Jamie: Oh, he’s pacing now.

Washington: In the course of writing The Constitution, in the course of writing our rights, it was also in there that it should be changed when and if it failed to meet the needs of people as a whole. What went wrong is that the people as a whole were not represented but were controlled by the government.

Me: Oh, yeah.

Washington: This was the most disappointing element that we saw fall apart. You have to realize that time moved very slowly, so our Constitution held in place for decades upon decades in a proper sense. But, as you see around you, your country moves now at lightening speed, and the rules made five years ago no longer apply to what’s occurring now.

Me: Are you talking about how the Constitution is interpreted and enforced?

Washington: Yes, so it needs to be reformatted so that it works for the people as a whole and so your elected officials and other larger elements of influence don’t use it as a tool for their own benefits. You’ve become a country ruled by the greed of politicians and groups rather than by the word of law.

Me: Well, gosh, come back and work on it, please!

Washington: I was so disappointed to see how amendments were made for black people and women. Why should there have been a separation in the first place?

Me: I know! It just creates more divisiveness.

Washington: Right. Exactly. You understand.

Me: Yeah. People are people.

(Pause)

Me: Okay. Well, I guess that’s it for now. I don’t want to get into parallel universes, membrane theories, and stuff, so, I’ll close by first saying, thank you Mr. Washington for coming by and giving us your insight and advice. It’s been truly an honor.

Erik turns to George Washington and shakes his hand and thanks him.

Washington: Thank you. The pleasure was all mine. Thank you for your time today. I look forward to a more in depth talk.

Me: Yes, we’ll certainly do that.

Washington: I’ll be sure to make myself available to you as well as any other of my colleagues you wish to speak to.

Me: Oh, good! Thank you!

Jamie: He kind of, um, when he says goodbye to me, he puts his feet together so they make a little sound. It’s almost like a little military thing!

Jamie giggles.

Me: Aw, well, he was a general, after all!

Jamie: Then he bows at the waist just slightly and bids me farewell. He “bids me farewell!”

Jamie laughs hard.

Me: Thank you, Mr. Washington.

Jamie (still giggling): He’s gone.

Erik: This is gonna be so much fun, Mom!

Me: Oh my god, yes, it’s going to be awesome interviewing all these guys. Uh, so Erik, I want to say that I love you so much. Are you doing okay?

Erik: First rate, Mom. I’m doing good. It’s almost like with spring coming, I feel like I’m in Rush Week. So many people are coming out asking questions, asking for support, rallying around. So really, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Me: Good! And you’re having fun too, right?

Jamie: He’s laughing so hard! Oh, he’s going back to push over the cat again.

Erik: You know, since you’ve put that on the blog, people have actually asked me to push their cats over.

Me: Oh, you’re kidding me!

Erik: No, I’m so serious. If you ask on the blog, “who has asked Erik to push their cat over,” you’re gonna get so many responses.

Me: Oh, that’s so funny.

Erik: Yeah, it’s definitely funny, but not every cat likes to be pushed over. Normally, I get them by the hips and I wiggle them over and they just run away.

Erik chuckles.

Jamie and I laugh.

Me: I’m so glad you’re having fun, Baby! Bye Jamie. Bye Erik! Love you both!

Erik: Ditto, Mom.

Jamie: Bye.