Happy New Year!
I just managed to emerge from the black hole of graduate school about a month ago, and it has taken me approximately until right now to work through the PTSD-like symptoms that made it impossible for me to look at a computer screen more than necessary for daily work-related happenings.
That was a long sentence.
And before I get into the story that I want to tell you, can I just say that this political turn has not been easy to handle on top of pregnancy hormones?
Oh, yeah, I'm going to have a baby. We're going to have a baby? I'm still not sure which phrasing I prefer, so often, I actually say out loud, "I'm going to have a baby, it's my husband's." Sorry if you were on the receiving end of one of those; it's me, not you.
This news means that E and I have shifted gears to baby-proof our home, budget for and purchase all of the necessities, and plan short and long-term goals for our growing family.
Just kidding.
We've been basically flying by the seats of our pants like usual, only this round means that sometimes I cry about it. Ask E - it's super fun for him. This brings me to my real story - the story of yesterday.
We usually start Saturday by cleaning up the mess we made in the 5 days prior. This is a nice, therapeutic start to the weekend, and means that dishes and laundry are cleaned before Monday. But this weekend was set to be a super-baby-time weekend, with a strong Saturday start. The agenda was: 9:30am - Birthing Class, 4:00pm - Pregnant Family Photo Shoot (again, what's the phrasing for this? Maternity photos? Paternity? Parenternity?)
We were up and moving in plenty of time for the birth class, and decided that we would stop at Octane to pick up a bite on the way. Somehow the process of putting shoes on and getting the dogs taken care of put us just behind schedule enough that, upon seeing the line at Octane, we decided that we needed to make another choice to avoid being late. On the walk through the parking lot back to the car, I realized that I was starving. We got into the car, E started to reasonably talk through the other options for places we could stop for food. I know that his words were logical, but the thought of making a new choice, now that we were likely to be late, and with the knowledge that I was actually starving meant that the ugly cry that descended upon me was quite inevitable. So, E put two hands on the steering wheel, and I started limp-handedly digging through my emergency pregnancy pack for my emergency granola bar. This is when I realized that I'd forgotten to pack a water bottle, cueing me to recognize just how thirsty I was. The ugly cry continued, although I did manage to shove tiny bites of granola bar into my mouth between snarfuling. Thanks to my level-headed E, Condessa Coffee came to the rescue. I got an almond scone, Earl Grey tea, and a glass of water, and we arrived at the class location just two minutes late.
To discover that the building was locked.
Apparently, the instructor made a scheduling error on her calendar. After a couple of calls between the center, the instructor, and an awkward speaker phone convo with us and the other couples who were there for the class, class was cancelled. It was rescheduled for Sunday, and we suddenly had a free Saturday morning.
So we went to Carter's and bought baby clothes! Business idea: Someone start a baby store that has gender-neutral clothing and no words about Mommy loving baby and Daddy's special buddy printed on it. I get it, people like bows for girls and trucks for boys. I'm sure we will end up with bows and trucks and that will be fine. But right now I just think it's depressing to try to buy an infant sleep sack (for someone I haven't even met yet), and if you have a boy it gets to wear rocket ships, representing STEM technology and the great advancement of mankind and civilization, new frontiers, exploration... and the little girl stuff is a pink and white pattern.
We went ahead and bought the rocket ship one. And a dinosaur sweatshirt, and some sneaker socks. It's all super cute. We also ran around town and got fabric to make curtains and a crib skirt, and checked out a Home Goods for a table we've been endlessly searching for.
Baby room progress!
By the time we got home, it was around 2:30, and I needed a nap. E got busy breaking down the multitude of baby-stuff boxes that we've been hoarding.
It's a good problem, but for real, that's a huge mess.
When I woke up, I realized that we were going to be late for the pictures. And that everything that I intended to wear was still in the dirty laundry, because Saturday morning had not happened according to regularly scheduled programming. So I jumped out of bed like you do when you hear the cat getting ready to puke somewhere, and ran around yelling for E to get ready and throwing clothes and hair and makeup-ing, etc. We made it out the door only about ten minutes late, and again I'd forgotten a water bottle, but the events of the morning and the adrenaline of being late again had numbed my emotional reaction (phew). In the rush to jump in the car and get out the door, we failed to really consider the range on our electric vehicle. Just outside the entrance to the park, the Leaf-lady's voice told us that our range was getting low and the mileage estimator started blinking 15.
Regardless, we met Brenda (the same lovely lady who did our wedding photos!) in Stone Mountain Park (just 10 minutes late!) and walked around a bit doing giggly, smiling, hand-holdie things. If you need a photographer in the Atlanta area, highly recommend. Those photos are coming soon!
After the smiling and giggling, we were back to the car to see how the EV fates would treat us. At this point, the leaf was doing the three-line low battery dash. If you don't have an electric vehicle, this basically means that you are driving on borrowed battery. E found a public plug on his phone that was a 10 minute drive from Stone Mountain Park, and it appeared to be our best bet. He put the car into regenerative break mode and we were off on our next adventure. It was a quiet drive, in part because we turned off the radio to conserve battery power, and in part because we were both going through our mental rolodexes, analyzing the karmic energy we'd been putting out over the last week or so. Public plugs are always a gamble. Which got us into a heated discussion of whether forgiving people for poor customer service was good karma (because forgiveness is nice) or bad karma (because then the business continues to be poorly conducted). E was having a hard time letting go of the cancellation of the birth class that morning. When we arrived at the Walgreens, the plug was not in operation. The people inside the Walgreens seemed surprised to even know that there was the possibility for a plug outside, and were basically no help in determining our next steps.
E got back on his phone (which was, ironically, also low on charge at this point) and found a public plug at the Lilburn City Hall. It was 5 miles away. We had been driving on blanks for 10 minutes, and discussed some possible worst case scenarios. Having never actually run out of charge before, we speculated on whether there would be enough warning to pull over to the side of the road, and assumed that for safety reasons that must be a requirement in manufacturing. Recognizing that not trying meant getting roadside assistance, and potentially trying also could mean getting roadside assistance, we decided to give it a go. Turns out, regenerative break mode can tick off a lot of people, even out in the 'burbs. I wanted to figure out a way to sit high enough for them to see my pregnant belly (sympathy points) but resorted to kinda waving as moms in baseball hats sped around us in their Dodge Caravans.
Following the google map directions actually led us to a physical dead end, where E announced, "What the $%@*!" But we could see the beacon of the clock on a building, which we assumed was City Hall, and upon turning around, navigated our way to the parking lot. Where we pulled in. And found a plug. E was very quiet as he got out of the car, taking his public-use plug card and swiping it in the machine. After several attempts and a "Card Read Error" message, he switched to a regular ole' credit card. Which the machine read, before providing instructions for attaching the plug and starting the charge. And E began the happiest giggle dance I've ever seen him perform.
We walked from there to a restaurant for dinner, where E found his favorite brewery beers were served on tap. I found a desperately needed restroom, and we had a lovely dinner. The waitress asked us if we were celebrating anything special this evening. And again, I considered having no idea what the proper phrasing was for all that we were celebrating. So we said, no, nothing special.
And we spent the rest of the evening discussing the benefits of public services, and praising the efforts of the Leslie Knopes of the world.
Until Next Time,
K