Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wa-Hoo!!!

We have a Christmas tradition that I think is a good idea though it admittedly can make me crabby when all is said and done. After Halloween, the kids each have to earn money that is used solely for sibling Christmas presents. That sounds great until one realizes 2 things: quite a few worthwhile jobs need to be created and once the money is earned, quite a few things need to be purchased.

Today was the day. We went to the mall. We divided and conquered. We drank coffee and divided and conquered some more. The kids did a terrific job. They bought thoughtful presents. They are excited about the gifts they are giving. There's a wahoo in that, but the Wahoo Title comes from a time that Emma was walking with Lizzie in the mall.

A woman stopped Emma and asked who did Lizzie's hair. If she had stopped me, I would be instantly sweating, instantly apologizing for being white, instantly agreeing that my daughter's entire life's worth of self esteem was riding on the look of her hair and of course I had fallen short.

Oh, but Merry Christmas to me. The woman, a black social worker, said, "Is your mom biracial? She did a really good job." This Germanic/Danish/Other Things White Mom is celebrating a cross cultural victory.
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2 comments:

  1. The Beginning Farmer's WifeDecember 21, 2010 at 5:33 PM

    Now I want to see pictures!! :)

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  2. DTDecember 28, 2010 at 7:33 PM

    I've always thought you as biracial, Marty. How else could I account for Grace?

    You probably know that, within the very small amount of DNA variance that occurs between races, Northern Europeans are more closely related to Africans than to Asians.

    Don't tell Linda that I mentioned this to you, but I checked "African-American" on the 2010 census. I hope you or Joel (but not both) did also. If not, you will be excellent candidates for 2020.

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