The illness that felled AJ this weekend seems to be trying to drag my husband and I down with it. There�s some kind of rule that the mom can�t get sick. Even if I were to get sick, I couldn�t do anything about it, so I just don�t get sick. But I am feeling queasy as all get-out, and am thus living primarily off of water and echinacea tea.

It has been a challenge trying to keep AJ entertained in a way that doesn�t tax his still weak constitution. We spent an hour or so this afternoon labeling everything in the house we could think of, because AJ wants to learn how to spell absolutely everything. I had flashbacks to preparing for a college Russian exam when I had labeled everything in my dorm room in Russian in a panicked attempt to learn my vocabulary (it worked, actually).

We also received a package from my brother in Israel, exceptionally well timed for AJ�s benefit. They spent their holidays in Capetown, South Africa and sent some trinkets from their trip. AJ�s favorite things were a very fuzzy and realistic stuffed penguin (they stayed next to the penguin preserve) and a card of �Gemstones of Africa� to which have been glued small, highly polished examples of each stone. The names of the stones read like some kind of incantation:

Gold Tiger Eye
Carnelian
Yellow Jasper
Brecciated Jasper
Unakite
Botswana Agate
Amethyst
Aventurine
Rose Quartz
Phantom Amethyst
Sodalite
Blue Lace Agate
Blue Tiger Eye
Rhodonite
Grey Agate
Red Tiger Eye
Green Quartz
Citrine
Multi Tiger Eye
Red Jasper

My favorite item in the package was a CD of miscellaneous South African music of all kinds of genres as well as Nelson Mandela�s moving 1994 inauguration speech. I�m looking forward to listening to it more carefully after AJ is asleep. Listening to �Nkosi Sikelel� iAfrica� always takes me back to my freshman year of college, when the protests against investments in South Africa were at their height. At the time I was taking an acting class (incidentally one of my fellow students in that class was the director of this film shown last week on HBO � did anyone see it? I�m interested to hear about it. We don�t have HBO) with a politically oriented drama teacher who organized the class to participate in a sit-in. I�m not usually one to participate in organized protests like this, not because I don�t support them but because I don�t like the mob mentality they entail. But I felt a little coerced by someone who was giving me a grade and was also na�ve and curious about what it would be like to be involved in an act of civil disobedience. I found the process fascinating from an anthropological point of view. I found it heartening that so many people could be so passionate about problems so far away from them. It was also interesting watching a disorganized, upset mob of people try to organize. In doing so, they essentially reinvented Robert�s Rules. I kept my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open. I spent the night on the floor of the College President�s office. Some of my fellow protesters appeared on the cover of Newsweek a week later. It is amazing to me to think about how much has changed in South Africa in 15 years. It gives me some hope for our country.

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