Iz Said

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Today, I picked up Iz early from school. She didn’t have a doctor’s appointment or anything like that; she just wanted to accompany me when I got my hair cut. I knew it was partially because she wanted to be with me and partially because she loves Donna’s dog, Kimchi, and her cat, Diva!
I picked Iz up at 2pm, which was later than I wanted to, but I had chatted unexpectedly with Nancy, Sarah, and Brenda in the parking lot of Bertucci’s after having lunch.

As we were driving to Donna’s, we were stopped by a policeman. Being late, though I had called Donna to tell her so, I couldn’t understand why traffic was halted and down to one lane.

I said, “Jeez, why are we stopped?
Iz said, “Beep at the dude, Mom!”
I said, “Err, he’s a policeman; I don’t think I will beep at him.”
When we got the “Go” signal, I realized that there was a huge pile of dirt in the opposite lane of the road that I couldn’t see.
Iz said, “Mom, you should have beeped at the dude!”

On the way there, Iz asked, “Where’s Canobie Lake?
I answered, “It’s in NH.”
Iz said, “Then why do they have a ride called the Boston Tea Party?”
I said, “Well, um, err, ah, because NH is near Boston where the tea party happened and…so, Iz, cafeteria or home tomorrow for lunch?!”

Iz has “Crazy Hair” day tomorrow at school.
So, when we got to Donna’s, I asked Donna for crazy hair day solutions. She said she had pink hair gel. I told Iz that we could put pink streaks in her hair with the gel.

Iz said, “No, I want to dye my hair pink.”
Donna frowned and said, “No, that would be permanent.”
I tried to explain it to Iz.
Iz said, “You just don’t get it, Mom!”
Ouch!

While I sat under the dryer, Donna proceeded to put the pink hair gel on Iz’s hair. And, Iz really liked it.

At that point, an older Korean woman came in, and Donna said to me, “She only speaks Korean.” For about 10 minutes, they exchanged conversation. After she left, I said to Donna, “Jeez, I needed subtitles for that.” Donna laughed.

I said, “I got ‘flu shot’ and CVS.” Donna laughed again. I asked, “Doesn’t ‘flu shot” translate?” She answered, “No, ‘flu shot’ is flu shot.”

I told her that I also heard “Kuganen” a lot. She said it was “Because of that….” This woman spoke no English and drove 40 minutes just to ask Donna about flu shots. At that point, I wanted to embrace that woman, because even though she was 70 years old, she and Iz shared a lot. They were both trying to make their way in a world where they didn’t really know the language well yet.

After Iz and I left, we went to a local pharmacy and purchased some green hair paint.
Iz said, “Well, we can use that tomorrow.”
I said, “I think the pink hair gel is enough for tomorrow; I meant we can use the green for Halloween.”
Iz said, "Oh, my bad!"

I needed to buy groceries for dinner, so we went to a local market called “Shaw’s.”
Iz said, “Sh, Shaw’s, shhhhh. It’s just like Fundations, Mom!”
I said, “What?”
Iz said, “Wh, whistle, wh; sh, ship, sh; ck, sock kh.”

I started to write in my book then.
Iz said, “Are you writing this down?”
I said, “Err, yes.”
Iz said, “Did you get all of it?”

It’s funny, because just then, she reminded me of most of my friends. When you have a blog, and you speak or ask a question, most friends say…

1) Yes, I read that on your blog.
OR
2) Will what I say go on your blog?!”

We went through the grocery store, Iz was doing some strange tap/hip-hop dance, which was bit annoying.
I told her to stop, and I grabbed for her.
Iz said, “Do you want a piece of me?”
It was all I could do to not laugh out loud when she said that.

We finally arrived home after four hours out and about.
Iz said, “Mumma, I need to tell you something.”
And then in turn, I told her, “Yes, I’ll listen to you in a minute, but I need to pee first!”
Iz said, “I’m sorry that you have to pee, M’Lady.”
WHERE does she get this stuff from?!

When I was working full-time, I was so overloaded that when I finally got to see her at 5:30, my attention span was limited, and I barely heard her say, “Hi, Mom.”

I heard that when a person becomes blind, they’re hearing becomes heightened. In my experience, when a person becomes unemployed, they’re hearing becomes heightened, too. And now that I get to spend hours with her, I am captivated by her every movement, word, and thought, even though sometimes she still drives me crazy. ♥