Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.
When I was barely 30 I said to Paul, “In our twenties those kids broke us down. Let’s spend our thirties getting back our strength so we sail into our forties with all our flags flying.” He thought this was a good idea and (off and on) followed my advice.
I ignored it and sat on my duff for several more years.
1. As I am now 36 I am officially in my late 30’s.
2. This means I am staring in the face of middle age.
3. Or is it staring at me?
Sitting eating breakfast with Eden this morning she quietly informed me, “Christopher said a bad word in da pool.”
“Oh really? What did he say?”
“I don’t want to…”
“He said, ‘I don’t want to’?
“I don’t want to say it…that’s his private business.” There was a hint of judgment in her tone.
“Oh well, that’s good of you to respect his privacy.”
We silently considered everything and then she said, “But it sure was a bad word.”
1. My sister wants everyone to pray for her husband’s job interview on Wednesday, that he will be offered tons of money and amazing medical benefits.
2. She didn’t have anything else to offer, claiming that people praying for David is the only thing that matters.
3. This is fine since I didn’t have anything at all.
I mean, I think it’s inversed, but I have had so little sleep lately I can’t say for sure.
Instead of staying up to the wee hours and then crashing all day, I have been getting up in the wee hours and then crashing through out the day…into chairs, tables, small children who don’t move quickly enough and then finally my bed at about 8 or 9 p.m.
Yesterday I awoke at 2:00 a.m. and began to take a brief nap around 12:30 p.m. This wasn’t convenient for Torey as I happened to be driving her and our vanload of kids home at that moment. I took another five minute nap after lunch which was interrupted by a couple of children playing merrily outside my bedroom door. After a sluggish evening I fell asleep reading at 9. Fortunately Paul turned off the light and shut the door.
I awoke at 3:30 this morning, read for a bit, tried to drift off, read some more and then finally gave up around 4:30 and announced to Paul, “I got nuffin to do!” Now the proper response to that is “Nuffin? Surely there is sumpin?” and then the kind offer to help. I can’t remember what child, our own or otherwise from whom we stole these lines.
Paul was completely off script, instead of saying his piece and then helping me find “sumpin” to do, he rolled over and moaned, “You having trouble sleeping, Pretty? That’s too bad…because I am having no difficulty…”
In an hour I am leaving to drive across the state to pick up my brother, Tanner, who is flying in on a red- eye from L.A. My friend, Dan, is driving with me and we are stopping off at IKEA on the way home. I only need to get some glasses and check out rugs, but I am scared I will be found days from now slumped behind a large shelving unit. IKEA has become a sort of purgatory for me; I going through it but I want what’s on the other side. I just don’t know if I have what it takes to make it to the airport, through IKEA and back.
I am going to take a shower, make myself some scrambled eggs – my considerations for my heart are going to have to take a back seat to those for my brain, drink some coffee, freebase some Vitamin B, drink some water and I should be good to go.
I am just hoping I am good to return too.