Girls' Night Out (G.N.O.)

The other night, Sabrina wanted to go to the library for some new books. Brian and the other girls were staying home, so I gave Dee Dee the option of whether or not to come with us. She was eager to go. When we got there, Sabrina disappeared over to the kid section, and to pass the time, I directed Dee Dee over to the large print section.

We scanned the shelves for any titles that looked familiar to her, but to no avail. Eventually she picked up a Nora Robertson novel off the shelf, and I asked her if she was able to read it. She opened it up and started reading aloud.

A couple of details you should know:

1) Dee Dee speaks in one volume. This volume applies equally at home, at a noisy restaurant, in church, or in the library.

2) Dee Dee is capable of reading, but her eyesight has deteriorated to the point where even large print books are difficult for her.

So she read aloud (and when I say aloud I mean loud). She read about half of the words correctly, and the rest she substituted for words with similar letters. Or sometimes she would latch on to one word in a sentence, and create a new sentence apparently out of thin air using that word.

This could seem like a sad thing, but actually it was hilarious. Sabrina had rejoined us by this point, and she and I were practically splitting our sides laughing. But we weren't laughing at Dee Dee; she knew she was being funny. The sentences she was spouting made absolutely no sense, but she read and read, almost a page in all.

At one point, I heard a throat clear in the aisle behind us. I'm not sure if it was directed at us or not. Likely so, but Dee Dee was too endearing for me to mind much if we were a bit disruptive.

We finished the outing off with ice cream from Dairy Queen, where the mood remained festive. All in all, a great girls' night out.