It can be weird to have worlds collide, but Tatum handled it with her usual grace on her 17th birthday. We brought together family, friends from Jakarta, Marina from Stuart Hall and Sophia and Georgie. Plus the relevant grown-ups. And we ate at our newly favorite restaurant, Artha Rini Indonesian in Kensington. In classic Indonesian style, they didn’t have staples like nasi goreng or jasmine tea, which made it quite perfect. Tatum ordered her favorite, sticky rice, but it didn’t compare with Ibu Nengsih’s.
Following explicit instructions, I made a funfetti cake with Betty Crocker strawberry frosting, but the shark candy, mermaid candles and seahorse cookies were by own contribution.
Tatum still wants to become a shark researcher and is looking at colleges with a marine biology program, handily being those along a beach. She is indeed on tap to take AP Environmental Science next year, so she’s on the right track.
Her teacher comments have been glowing—she contributes the most of any student in her physics class, has made top gains in precalc and has “sophisticated literary analysis skills” and is recommended for AP English next year (along with AP statistics and art). She’s not loving school, but she’s doing a great job despite that. They love her.
And her friends span the Maryland-Virginia divide: in addition to lovely Marina from Brazil but a fellow boarder at Stuart Hall, Tatum is spending lots of time with Sophia, Tommy and new beau Beaman, all students at Whitman. Prom was a big highlight this spring—for Josie and me, as well as the kids. It’s something to celebrate when the children you love are doing happy things.
@theterrace 