Haiku

Upon arriving in Atlanta.

Another city
Home to one golden-domed pile
And ten-plus Starbucks

There is this one remark that my family has been quoting me on for years every time we drive through Waterbury, Connecticut on I-84. I was a little girl, riding in the back seat, and I think I dozed off and woke up cranky and bored. I saw the Union Station Clock Tower and, mistaking it for Big Ben and then confusing London and Paris, I snarked, “Where are we, Paris, England?” The implication that we had been driving forever, long enough that we could have made it to Europe and back, was lost to my adorable, unworldly slip.

The Georgia State Capitol building has a golden dome that reminds me of buildings in Hartford, Springfield, Boston, Albany, Chicago, DC . . . I was cranky in the cab from the airport—when the driver said ‘good morning’ I couldn’t believe it was still the morning—but managed not to snark out loud about it this time.