EDLM 3
The migraine that arrived yesterday decided to stay the night. I have had little sleep as a consequence. As a result there is a conflict going on in my head between going to work and staying home today, but it is finally settled by the revelation that I still have to take the child to school. I might as well go in to work at that point. I decide to compromise with myself deciding that I’ll go, but I’ll go late. The morning becomes instantly more palatable. While this is all going through my head, I realize that one of the dogs has been incessantly nudging my hand. I take the hint, get up and go downstairs to let them both out. As soon as they scramble out the door, off the deck, onto the patio and around the house out of my sight, they begin barking. There is no doubt the ruckus has woken the neighbors. Or possibly it’s me waking the neighbors by yelling at the barking dogs. Or maybe it’s the fact that I am yelling and ringing an iron dinner bell… At any rate, none of it seemed to rouse the other occupants of our house.
The second my son decides he is able to deal with the waking world, he is downstairs chattering about the trip. The trip is his first vacation and he is incredibly excited about it. It’s really a conference I have to attend that happens to be at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. We are pulling him out of school for half of next week (with the blessing of his teacher). This would not be something we could afford at this time, so this is a great opportunity. We will leave in a few days and are taking our friend’s daughter along too. There is only once that the subject matter changes all morning and that’s just for a moment to show and tell me about the Lego set he put together with his dad last evening. Peanut butter toast for his breakfast, as usual. I sit with him for a bit and sip some coffee, and then its time for everyone to get ready for the day. The husband finally is up and moving around. We grab the things that have been laid out in the foyer on the chaise the night before. I tuck a dollar bill into his backpack so he can participate in hat day. It’s a fundraiser for autism. He grabs his Super Mario ball cap. We say our good byes to his dad and load up the car.
We hit the school parking lot late and do the obligatory mother-son race to the door. As usual, son wins. I remind him to check into the office for a late pass as we open the doors and make sure to give him a hug, a kiss and an “I love you! It’s going to be a great day!” as he moves quickly away from me. He looks back in his endearing, sheepish manner and gives a tiny wave.
It’s a beautiful morning…such a shame that work or school or other such obligations can’t be conducted outdoors when the weather is agreeable.
By the time I get to work, the headache is nearly gone, and I’ve still somehow managed to beat everyone to the office, except for the practicum student/intern. She is currently locked in battle with the copier/printer. I help her get the maps for an upcoming book give-a-way scanned and emailed. I get coffee, do some filing. It seems to be a work avoidance day and too much time was probably spent chatting with a coworker about our gardens.
I have lunch with the husband at Savages Ale House, a few blocks from both our workplaces. S always waits on us and she knows what we’ll order before we even do. I work on what has probably been the 10th packing/prep list since I knew I was going on this trip and also work on the household budget. This is all while waiting on food and simultaneously pestering the husband about trip details. We both get travel anxiety, but mine is much more evident in my compulsive need to plan, re-plan and agonize about every last detail and every last thing that could possible go wrong.
The rest of the afternoon is rather run of the mill as far as work goes. Except for our office manager’s perplexing revelation that his budgeting is done by “how many sausage egg biscuits something equals”.
I step away from work for a bit to pick up F from school. This is one of those occasional days that I am able to get him immediately after school—normally he goes to Boys and Girls Club which houses a program right in his school building. On days like this he refers to himself as a “car kid”, and he wears that status with pride. While I wait in the car line, I half-listen to NPR while reading work emails and looking up random things on my phone. My son is always beaming when he climbs into the car at car pick up. We chat about his day.
Fo. visits all my coworkers when we return to the office. While I finish a few things, he happily plays with magnet ninjas on the side of my desk. My boss bought them especially for his visits here. He also rolls my pilates ball up and down the hall way.
It’s the intern’s last day and we have cupcakes in the board room. With the intern leaving, Fo. gets his office back (he has been using it when empty). He wastes no time settling back in…
We are set to go home for the weekend, when a coworker stops me to let me know she will be leaving us in the fall in order to attend grad school at Indiana University. It’s bittersweet. F carries my bags out for me when we go to leave. He calls the elevator and gets each door for me. He struggles a bit, but he refuses help.
When we get home, we settle in and I go through his school papers with him. There is a pink slip from the school library regarding an overdue copy of “Captain Underpants”. My child, who adds his own flourish to any and all school papers, has drawn an intense stick-figure ninja battle on it. “You will die!” appears prominently in a word bubble underneath the fine. My terrible sense of humor makes me think it’s an awfully stern response to a fine.
My husband gets home from work and I follow him upstairs to chat with him about his day while he gets dressed to head to the gym. While he is gone, I head outside mow the lawn. A passerby stops me while I am mowing to ask about the mower itself. It’s a human powered old fashioned push mower. I then survey the front garden. I’ve planned, plotted, and planted for seven years now to get that cottage garden feel. Things are blooming late this year. The rock wall and beds are alive with the periwinkle, phlox, hyacinth, tulips, lily of the valley and daffs. The thundercloud plum is in bloom, but the dogwood and cherries are not quite there yet. Over winter, it appears that we lost an eastern redbud, five Graham Blandy boxwoods, and a hydrangea. Soon the roses, peony, clematis and irises will make their appearance, and after Memorial Day will come all the native pollinators and lilies. I sweep the deck and patio and the little one comes out to help.
When my husband arrives from gym we go to Target, TJMAxx and Shoe Carnival—all three get shoes and other items for the trip. I realize it’s nearly nine and so we rush home to eat dinner. I have already told a friend that I was cooking dinner so I keep that promise regardless of the time and cook up catfish and chips. I try peanut oil that was suggested by one of my husbands coworkers and the results were incredible. It was a late meal, but well worth it in the end. And thankfully, N is a patient friend.
Make another list about the trip. We watch Mythica 5 and F and I fall asleep cuddling on the couch.