Georgie was keen to tell me that Kalela, did I know, is actually a teenager and not a grown-up! At the coaches performance last weekend, Kalela did a beautiful dance to the song "Too late to apologize". Georgie was mesmerized and fathers of daughters got all choked up.
At ballet and gymnastics, I am the only dad. All the other little girls come with their mothers. I get along very well with the moms. At the Atlanta Gymnastics Centre, there is a lively group of the real housewives of Decatur. Though these real housewives rarely resort to name-calling or hair-pulling. No, they are very well-behaved and fun. I don't think any of them work so I fit right in. Except when the subject is online coupons or stupid men. I know men are stupid but being one of them, I have nothing to add.
I look forward to our Thursday mornings together. They have accepted me into their social circle (actually, that's the name of a town east of here!). The other day I was talking to one of the women as she was breast- feeding her little girl. She was standing really close to me because it was really noisy in there. Her baby came off and was hanging upside down smiling at me as we talked. She continued on telling me about her job (she is an occupational therapist) and took a very long time to cover up. She seemed unconcerned by her overexposure. Or maybe unaware, but how could that be? It was a little like that scene from 40 Year-Old Virgin, except not as funny.
The group has lots of different personalities. One of the RHOD is a Lauren Holly look-alike and has the biggest and best southern accent of the bunch. She owns a candy shop in town and is a friendly, smily person. It seems amazing that a candy store owner should be so thin. Especially here in the south. Then there is the somewhat brash, ex- new yorker. She has lots of positive energy and is not as focused on her outfits as Lauren Holly. She always has lots of stories about her out-of-control life is but actually seems to be doing pretty well. She is loud and a bit dominant but the other women seem to like her and so do I. And she was friendly to Gudrun when she came to class. There are two others who, like me have little ones to watch while the five year-olds are doing their class. Theirs are babies though. They have their hands full and less time to socialize than the rest of us. One other woman is a transplant from Germany who moved first to Texas with her American husband before relocating to Atlanta. She's afraid to go south of Memorial Drive. It got a little quiet when she said that. Like she insulted their town or something. As if there is no crime here. Civic pride, I guess. The few times I have been to south east Atlanta, I often find myself humming, "In the ghetto". And that is one of the worst songs ever. Elvis really could suck when he wanted to. Next is little Miss Intense who talked about the dirty looks she got while visibly pregnant and at a bar drinking wine. I asked if it wasn't the tequila shots that drew the nasty looks but she seemed not to get the joke. Why not? That's frickin' hilarious! I mostly talk to Jen, whose daughter Catherine is in class with Georgie. She was the first one to talk to me, the lone male, and kind of broke the ice for me and the group. They saw that a man, while often crude and offensive, can serve a useful social purpose. And now look at me! I am the life of the party, or gymnastics viewing lounge, as it were. Jennifer has given me a lot of good tips about where to go in Georgia and we share the guilty pleasure of Disney World. Gudrun is convinced that I have fallen madly in love with her and that we are planning to run away together to Valdosta. This is of course ridiculous. I don't even like Valdosta.
And then there is ballet class. Again, all moms and me but a smaller more reserved group. Plus there is a really annoying older nanny of one of the kids who constantly interrupts my conversations with the other parents. This week I spoke more with a women whose two girls are in a dance class in the adjacent room. She is from Peru and has made several references to her and her daughters' petite -ness. Elise is a giant chubby monkey next to her little girl the same age. "My girls, they are tiny, just like me!" Gudrun takes exception to this claim, the part about her being tiny. Anyway, Ms Peru told me she was having an 80s party this weekend. She said she likes 80s music but has always been into more "rougher" music like 'Guns and Roses' and 'Journey'. Yeah, that Steve Perry was a real bad ass. She told me her husband is a whole seven years older that she and is not so into the whole party idea. Just then she got a call but rolled her eyes and said, "Mother-in-law. She can wait!" While on the subject of gymnastics and she told me that she is "crazy flexible" and "can do things I just should not do". What things? I should have asked. She wasn't nearly this chatty when my wife was here last week.
Ballet is over now and Georgie had her recital. It was wonderful. All those little girls in their tutus doing their twirls. They ran across the stage and did their jumps and threw flowers toward the audience. At the end they all hugged Kalela. Georgie said she wants to do another ballet class in the summer with Kalela but by then we'll be back in Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment