I'm now known for my complaint letters??

Jay and I finally talked, after our weeks-long phone tag reached its lightning round. We trip-planned a bit but mostly chatted, commiserated over our whiny, fat, stupid felines. Smokey has apparently changed his pitch to make himself sound even more annoying; Gracie's always had that capacity, and she's adept at leveraging it exactly when her mommy is especially busy. We're an old double-single couple with our respective cats.

I was exhausted, but it was a surprisingly hilarious conversation, given the topics invoked. If you saw the Oscars, you'll have observed this remarkable Jewish characteristic of being able to laugh at past persecution--I mean, did you hear all the nazi jokes? It's a general capacity to bring it up inappropriately. In "Mommy Queerest," Judy Gold talked about how her mom's reaction to her middle school friends was, "Do you think they'd hide you?!"

***
Jay: Richard's learning phrases--are you still learning colors and shapes and zoo animals?
A.: I am. I've learned all sorts of animals now. Including giraffe.

Then, somehow, Chopin made it into our otherwise typically lowbrow conversation.

Jay: Wasn't he Polish?
A.: He... was.
Jay: I remember having this conversation with your mother--she was saying that Poles were all anti-Semites and had a lot of pogroms to answer for, and your dad said, 'they're not all bad.'
A.: Yes, this is a recurring conversation in my family: my mom makes sweeping generalizations about a nationality--mostly nationalities renowned for their anti-Semitism--and my dad answers with 'you can't paint an entire nationality with one brush.' But the Poles do have a lot of pogroms to answer for.
Jay: All this craziness--I can't believe you haven't written a book yet!
A.: Please--my friends don't even read my blog.
Jay: Oh--I know what else I wanted to ask you--American damaged my luggage--would you write a complaint letter for me? I know you have so much practice.
A.: [LOL]