Hello world! I am home in Ohio, in the land of family who is entirely, 100% Pro-Obama. People always look at me like I am the source of EVIL when I say I am from Ohio. I think they expect hayseeds and hicks with John Deere hats on in a stereotypical pose..Instead, I find a land of pro-Obama sentiment and feeling, even as they find their state crumbling around them. It’s like this thing…we’re not as BAD off as Michigan, we’ll be fine. Any who, the Ohio I know is very different then the one portrayed in the National Media.
Any who, tonight was typical of a visit in Ohio. Summer is pretty great here, and I’ve been here for a weeklong visit. The only thing marring this reunion is the fact that my brother is facing prostate caner. He is young and healthy dudes, so get your psa and prostate screening, dudes, ladies, get your mammograms. In his case, he’s going to be fine fine fine and we’re very grateful and lucky that it didn’t spread and that it’s a curable cancer. Anyway, other then crying a lot around him, it’s been a really nice visit!
So, here’s tonight…I came home packed for my trip home tomorrow, sipping jug wine with my mom and dad and there’s any variety of kids here…first, it’s cancer brother and his three little girls. Of course I’ll play kickball! Cancer brother fixes my car (as he always does) while I kick some kickball ass! Then, girls and brother leave, going home to get swimsuits (mom and dad have an above ground pool…FANCY!) and then sister Kitty and three of the boys come over. We drink more wine, the kids swim. Other sister comes over with the true ROCK STAR of the family, baby Allison. Then, a summer storm comes..and it’s a good one---walls are shaking, rain puddles, dark dark skies---just like a summer storm should be. We all hang on the sun porch during the storm and my Dad goes to get 4 large pizzas. We see lots of deer, including a baby one that looks like Bambi. Mr. Sun begins to shine...time to swim! The kids all swim…us siblings talk about the Dead shows we attended in the 80s/90s (three for me, 10-15 for Kit, 40 or so for Cancer Brother). Since our parents are there, we speak in code about what we did at those shows. I confess that I felt as though I just never fit in and they all look at each other like, Duh, you were a giant dork. Which I am quite aware of. I tried to be a deadhead but I just never wanted cheese sandwiches and thought someone ought to look after the babies and the dogs. Any who, we all break for Pizza.
And then, my favorite part happens…the negotiation of who sleeps where. In the summer, the kids and their parents are inner-changeable. “I’ll take two (tad and ben) if you take Simon.” Simon asks Aunt Kitty if he can stay at Uncle Paul’s house, and they all say yes, and then the kids scream and dive into the pool again. It is the most exciting thing in the world that Simon, age 5, can stay at a house full of girls. He flashes his signature Simon “SUNSHINE” Dover France grin, and dives in.
Other kids stay at my parents and cars shift and other kids walk around in the neighborhood and see if any fish came alive at the pond next door (the house is foreclosed and empty…it is Ohio after all) and we still drink wine and eat chips and hummus (Becky like) and chat and then other kids call and arrive.
At the end of the night, all the Ford cars pull away, and I’m there with my mom and dad and we are trying to remember what language is the primary language of India (Hindi) and sort out the economy (why does my mortgage company not have an answer about loan modification when I call?) and it’s not a bunch of dumb Midwesterners who are rednecks…these are people who read the paper and go to church and, gasp, vote democratic and republican and have reasoned points of view on the world and I am embarrassed once again by what I see in the comedy world and hope that there is a place for a world of subtlety and grey areas because that is what I know and what I am.
The world is not black and white, and sometimes, you vote base on the union that gives your family a job and a home and health insurance and education.
That’s my soapbox here in Ohio.
See you soon Illinois…even though I’ve lived there since I was 21, my heart is still in the Buckeye state.
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