Kate's Point of View

In Ecuador Wonder Boy and I went for lunch in a posh café on the third floor of a beautiful old building in Quito, next door to the presidential palace. We ate like a king and queen, mainly because we had no idea how large the portions of food we were ordering were, and drank local brew and wine. Off on one corner of the balcony there was a local man playing a keyboard and on the balcony below us we could see a jewelry vendor and diners in another restaurant. A lovely setting for lunch.

Two tables in front of us were a mother and father eating with their two very cute children. The kids were happily clacking away on an antique typewriter that was propped up on a shelf near them and were having a glorious time not eating their food. It was cute.

Apparently the scene was so cute that the when the little girl, about 5-tears-old, climbed into her mother’s lap the mother felt an intense desire to kiss her. On the lips. With tongue.

That’s right, I saw a mom French kiss her daughter with exposed tongue.

Someday that child will write into an advice column or spend a lot of time on a shrink’s couch. You know it.

Right now I want to partake in the ultimate luxury – a nap. Folks, I am dying. Last night I went out with friends to celebrate the anniversary of my birth and I had a little too much fun. And Miller Light. I definitely had too much Miller Light. But right now all I want is to crawl under my comforter and sleep for as long as humanly possible.

I am a champion napper, you know. I come by it naturally because I was born to a power napper. My mom, when we used to go on road trips, would pull over so she could take a 5 to 15 minute nap and then she was good to go for the rest of the day. Five minutes! I am much more greedy with my naps. If it’s less than 20 minutes, why bother? And really, should all naps be at least an hour?

My favorite thing to do in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD is to take a nap out in the sunshine. I have napped in sunny locations around the world.

• I took a nice lengthy nap outside of the Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. I looked so vulnerable that a security guard kept watch on me the whole nap and I could see him out of my partially closed eyes and felt reassured that I could nap just as long as I pleased.
• On a trip in Europe napped in a park just at the base of Belem Tower in Portugal. All of my gear for the trip was in a bag pack that I draped my legs over so that no one would steal it while I snoozed and the plan worked. When I woke up, I had the please of being greeted by a drug deal trying to sell me some hash.
• I cannot detail the number of public libraries and college lecture halls that I have slept in, because there are just so many with little nooks and crannies perfect for naps.
• During long workdays, I have used my lunch hour to catch up on shut eye in two locations. On a number of occasions I have gone to a nearby park (well known as a pick up spot for men) and slept on a park bench. I have also utilized the picnic tables outside of our building as a good resting spot. I stopped napping outside the building when I woke up one time to my coworkers banging on the windows laughing at me. Don’t they know not to interrupt a good nap?
• I used to walk to a park in one of the city squares near me and nap on park benches. Friends kept driving by and honking their horns to say hi so it wasn’t ideal.

That’s all I can think of now. I am sure there are more naps I could talk about but I am too tired and looking forward to the nap I am going to be taking in about a half hour…