America, the wan dar fool

My mother loves America. Shortly after we arrived, she discovered something really 'wan -dar-fool.' Wan-dar-fool. (My mom has a strong accent and she tends to draw syllables out - and sometimes even add extra ones -- like when she says 'TEST-ID-A-TUBE" instead of TEST TUBE. And she's a pharmacist so she says that word alot... But anyway, back to WAN-DAR-FOOL.) She discovered the concept of dropping by your neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar. In case you're not familiar with this concept let me explain. It's when your neighbor --usually a woman --comes over with the purpose of borrowing a cup of sugar --or two eggs or whatever you might need for the recipe you were making -- whereupon the visit rapidly degenerates into a social call where you chit-chat about everything from macrame plant hangers - remember, it was the 70's - to your husband's snoring, to whether it was acceptable to fry up bologna and serve it on bread as dinner when you hadn't had time to grocery shop and needed a meal for the kids. (In the 70's the answer was yes.) In Iraq it was customary to talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house. This after having spent several hours together over dinner and dessert, discussing politics, cooking, fashion - you name it. I think my mother saved the best part of her conversations to the very end. "Habeebty! Thank you very much for your hospitality! I hope to return it one day soon. By the way, did you hear about Jaffar's sisters's son's dentist? He's thinking about starting a construction business!" and the conversation would continue on. One time, we stayed so long on someone's porch, they invited us back inside for breakfast. In truth, it was Ramadan and parties tended to start late at night and go into the wee hours of the morning and the sun was starting to rise...but you get the point. So back here in Columbus, Ohio, a tradition was born. Whenever the ladies in the neighborhood wanted to get together, they'd do it under the guise of 'Dropping by for sugar.' Just for the record, my father never could understand why all the women of the neighborhood couldn't keep their pantries properly stocked. My mother never told him otherwise. Wan--dar-fool.