Exposing Yourself to Foreign Experiences
This morning, Mrs. Tragos, Baby Tragos and I headed down to a big indoor mall in Ankara. It was time to get some more serious toys for Baby Tragos. It was also time for Mrs. Tragos to get a haircut.
While Mrs. Tragos sat down for the above-mentioned haircut, I took Baby Tragos for a walk around the mall. Normally, I would put her facing out in the Baby Bjorn, which she loves. She gets to encounter the world that way. Unfortunately, we forgot the Baby Bjorn. So instead, I just held her in my palm so she could still meet and greet the world.
Now, I am not a very strong man. I’m a normal guy. So the tax on my biceps was pretty severe. I had to keep switching hands to hold Baby Tragos so that I could give each arm a rest in turn. Baby Tragos was loving our venture, talking up a storm with whomever we’d come across. Toward the end of our little perambulation, we wandered into a home furnishings store. Why? Because they had a whole row of different colored bright candles that looked like a gigantic crayon box. Perfect for entertaining a four-month-old.
As we drew near this wall of candles, two older women — grandmother-aged — approached. They took to Baby Tragos immediately, telling her she was “çok tatlı” (really sweet) and “çok güzel” (really beautiful). It was a really nice moment. Except my right arm was just killing me.
[Brief interruption for a sartorial detail: I was wearing a long sleeve snap-down-the-middle collared shirt today.]
I needed to make an adjustment, but the women were nowhere near finished cooing over Baby Tragos. So I went for it. As Baby Tragos swiped across my chest from right to left, she took one side of my shirt with her, unsnapping me completely.
So there I was, in Ankara, Turkey, in a quaint home furnishing store, bare chested in front of two grandmothers.
I nodded, grunted a quick, “Afedersiniz,” (hopefully the appropriate “excuse me” for the occasion), turned around, and with my free right hand, snapped my shirt up while Baby Tragos yelled out at the shiny mirrors on the shelf in front of her.
I turned around. The grandmothers were gone.
