Visiting the Lake

Lydia and I spent the weekend at the lake with my parents. They live on Lake Marion, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from Columbia. We left Friday after school and got to the lake around 5:30pm. It was dark when we arrived, so Lydia was unable to see the lake. We settled in and had dinner with my parents. Lydia has enchanted my parents, and they truly enjoyed having her visit. On the way to the lake, Lydia asked, “So do we not take a gift to them for hosting us?” Jokingly I replied, “Lydia, our presence is the gift. They will enjoy having us.” Yes, I know I am spoiled. For dinner on Friday we ate Debbie Boyer’s chicken casserole, broccoli, and fruit salad. The casserole is one of my all time favorites, and Lydia liked it as well. She is willing to try anything that is put in front of her, and I think she is experiencing some great new foods. For dinner on Saturday, we ate fried catfish, sweet potatoes, and hushpuppies. She really enjoyed the hushpuppies, so I am going to send her back to Uganda with some hushpuppy mix.

Before dinner was ready, I had the TV on the Disney channel, one of my favorite channels, as there was a JONAS marathon. I explained to Lydia who there were, and we watched several episodes. I am not sure what she thought about them, but at one point, she asked, “Are they really brothers?” When I replied that they were, she said that she thought that was nice. During dinner, the Disney movie Ratatoullie was on, and so we watched it. She said that she enjoyed watching cartoons and that she enjoyed the movie.

Saturday afternoon, we headed to the farm to plant some trees. Mom and Dad ordered 500 red cedars to plant in different areas around the farm. Dad said if the temperature got to 40° farenheit that we would plant the trees. It got up to 38° so we bundled up in many layers and headed out. As we drove along the farm, we pointed out the beaver dam and beaver house. Lydia had never seen a beaver before; fortunately, we have a stuffed beaver in our house, so we were able to show her what one looked like. We spent about an hour and a half planting 230 trees and then called it quits. It was pretty fun and very interesting to participate in the process. I told Lydia that if teaching didn’t work out for her that she had a career in planting trees. Once we returned to the lakehouse, we went out front and looked at the lake and took some pictures. I was freezing so I asked Lydia if she was cold. She replied, “Yes, but I do not want to leave this beautiful view. If I lived here, I would never stop looking.”

Lydia and I have had several discussions on the roles of men and women in Uganda and in the US. The expectations are very different for men in each world. I feel that she has been intrigued with how much my dad helps out in the house. Dad usually helps clean up and more often than not does the cooking for breakfast. He also fried the catfish and hushpuppies for dinner. I am sure Lydia is not used to seeing men participate in the domestic chores. She has mentioned often that the father of her son did not offer help or be the man she needed him to be, so she made the decision to leave. I wonder how seeing my father and his actions affects her view of men.