Fruit does not, in fact, fall far from the tree...

...which, incidentally, has nothing to do with the fruit liking the fact that it fell from that particular tree.

I don't know if I ever told you the story about when Antigone was only about 2 months old (which means I had not legally changed her name from Indigo Toyen to Antigone Indigo yet - that happened at 3 months). I was on the phone with my Mom and I said "you know, this baby has the most bizarre expression on her face"...so my Mom says " like what, honey? do you think maybe it's gas?"...and I say "oh...no, it's more like she's pissed off at me...". To this day, I warn people that my daughter -“Medusa”- can and will turn you to stone with one single glance.

I heard years ago and love telling people that (SUPPOSEDLY) a girl gets 80% of her genes from her father and a boy gets 80% of his stuff from his Mom. There has never been any doubt that the 4 boys seem more like me (more emotional, more expressive, more neurotic, more chatty, more likely to be medicated for something, more likely to be on the autism spectrum); Antigone and Scot, on the other hand, are emotionally solid, rely heavily on smirking as the mainstay of their expressive repertoire and rarely answer with more words than what might be minimally required to count as an “answer”. In all fairness to Scot, however, he has never turned anyone to stone.

So, yesterday, I had to drive Montserrat to Chicago (6 hours round-trip, including Starbucks at the Belvidere Oasis) to spend a few days with cousin Maxi. Antigone’s assignment was to come for the ride, in part because she wanted to, but more importantly to KEEP ME AWAKE. (Staring straight ahead for several hours has a hypnotic effect on me after years of being so crazy-busy that I could atrophy from the lack of activity).

The first diversion she initiated was “NAME-10-THINGS-YOU-WANT-TO-DO-BEFORE-YOU-DIE”, which seemed engaging enough to keep me alert for a few miles. She went first: “Bungee Jump, jump out of an airplane, ride on a motorcycle, fly a plane, fly some other way, drive a race car...”. My list was this: “REALLY learn French – not just half-assed, become excellent on the violin, write a few books, figure out how to prevent/cure autism, have a diner/coffee shop with Scot, own a cottage in Saugatuck...” Neither of us came up with 10 but the minute she heard what my choices were she said “NOT STUPID THINGS LIKE THAT! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO COME UP WITH STUFF THAT’S FUN…LIKE AN ADVENTURE!!!!”

Oh. I didn’t know that.

We argued about whether “non-adventures” can count in this particular exercise and I never convinced her of the slim chance that my own dreams might, by default, be authentic. The classic exchange between us is this: I say “Try to be a nice person” and then she does this fabulously unique combination of rolling her eyes in disgust and batting her eyelashes extravagantly. Little Bo-Peep meets the devil.

This is what I love though – beyond her prickly, disdainful front, Antigone is one of the funniest people I know – truly a quipster (and truly kind - remind me to tell you about her relationship with Kier sometime). She managed to entertain and engage me for the full 6 hours but would likely never admit that she had fun doing it…

What are the 10 things you’d want to do? (And don’t say something STUPID!)

Ruby