Right now, cicadas are singing outside. My co-worker’s kids love this big, flying bugs because they’re “crunchy.”
I am such a wuss when it comes to bugs.
It was hot and steamy in Topeka. We also got a few rounds of pounding rain. Last week, I snapped this picture of clouds outside of the newsroom. Folks heading back from their dinner break told me they saw lightning popping up in the clouds.
A few days ago, I stopped by my favorite spot for Chinese food in Topeka, Sun’s. I ordered chicken fried rice and waited for my take out order by some Chinese magazines and a Transformer’s coloring book. Another lady waiting for her take out order sat next to me. Out of the blue, she told me she thought I had nice Oriental hips.
She said it didn’t matter if an Oriental woman is skinny or fat, she always had nice shaped hips. I blushed and thanked her. I wasn’t sure if she was telling me I was chubby-looking with oriental hips or that I simply had nice hips. She also told me she always thought Oriental women had nice straight hair. Again, I thanked her. I added that when I was younger, I used to want wavy hair like hers. I told her I ended up doing a couple of perms to get that look.
Her order came out first and we said good-bye.
It felt like an odd conversation between strangers. Eventually, I got over the shock of her using the politically incorrect word, “Oriental.” In the end, I saw that she meant well.
It’s kinda like my relationship with Topeka. Even though this town has a slight racial bias and could be a little narrow-minded when it opens up it’s mouth, overall, it means well.
So far, it feels like a long, stressful summer. Sometimes all I want to do is curl up on the couch with my baby.