Last week was a bit of an odd one. On one hand, I had babies on the brain. On the other, my thoughts were at the exact opposite end of the spectrum--death.
My co-worker is a month out from her first baby, and it's been a long time coming. It took so much just to get pregnant and some very good luck to stay pregnant, and now they're in the home stretch. It's so exciting, and we finally got to celebrate her this past week. It was fun sitting around the table and reminiscing about babyhood. It's shocking to realize how far out we are from that phase now. When I think about how Carter is six, it blows my mind. My cousin's baby shower is this coming week, so it will be more of the same.
I tried to figure out why I get so excited about babies, particular first babies. They're exciting, no doubt, but why do I find it darn near intoxicating? I think it's because it's the beginning of a total game-changer. You're in the final home stretch of your time as just a couple, with so many "new" things ahead. The entire dynamic changes. And while it can go very bad--which is probably one of the factors that always makes me a little anxious on others' wedding days--there is just something unique about that first baby experience. Trying to figure it out together, to find your new normal, to see another side of your spouse come out, to relive your childhoods together through this new little person...it's life-altering. To see someone in the final stages before all of this probably seems novel to me now. As spring was in the air this week I was thinking about this time of year when I was pregnant with Jacob. I had a few months to go, we had showers coming up, and we were starting our childbirth and parenting classes. Oh, and there was also the complication of a car accident and new car buying, but that's another story. There was so much happening and it was all so new and exciting. Hard to believe that was 11 years ago now.
This week also sent my thoughts to the other end of the life cycle. On Wednesday I found out that an old co-worker of ours had passed away. She was only 43. We worked with her for a year or so early in our days with the Amerks. She was a couple years out of a very successful college hockey career, and had already beat Hodgkin's Disease. She was such a positive, energetic person--always smiling. That was pre-Facebook, so when she left we lost touch, but Craig saw her a year and a half ago at a lacrosse tournament, and last summer she swam across Canandaigua Lake with a former co-worker of mine from my last job, who had become a great friend of hers. But apparently in January she started having some health concerns, and it turned out to be a rare form of liver cancer. She battled it so hard, but near the end she went septic, and I have to think that hastened things along. She left behind a husband and four kids. It's truly heartbreaking, and she's been on my mind a lot.
Then a couple days ago, my high school friend's dad passed. He'd had cancer, but it seems that he must have gone downhill fast because he was doing okay just a few weeks ago. I didn't really know him--we'd met maybe a few times--but he was a pastor at a church in my hometown, so he was pretty visible. But he was too young for this and it's just a shame. He was beloved by so many people and it hit hard to see him go.
Lesson learned, yet again...life is short. Maybe that's why I woke up on Saturday like a woman on a mission. I was determined to finally patch and paint the area around our thermostat--the thermostat that was changed out with our central air almost three years ago. Oops. There was a patch of white wall behind it as it was much smaller than our old one, and the thought of trying to figure out how to sand it and paint it just left me panicked. And yet, I woke up and had to do it. So I did. It was a solid effort but not without drama. I didn't get it as smooth as I would have liked, and then I accidentally picked the wrong paint color. Who knew that our fireplace wall (that I knew was "Latte" from a previous patch job) was an accent wall, and all of our other walls are a shade lighter ("Beige")? All this time I thought it was how the light hit, but now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it. Drama aside, it's done. Maybe someday I'll try to do it better, but it's done. Then I put out eight bags of mulch. I did a load of laundry. I dragged the boys out to three errands--to pick up my new smoothie blender that I ordered last week and now need because the one that was on its last legs officially bit the dust that morning; to the dollar store to check for a couple things; and to Walmart to pick up some stuff for my big organization project. Oh, and in the middle of all that, I decided to try cleaning some mini-blinds in the shower. Ours are filthy--dusty, oddly sticky--and I've been meaning to do it for months...or maybe years. But I finally pulled down one set, rigged it up in the shower, and did some trial and error to figure out how to clean them (scrub brush with shampoo, change the venting and flip for essentially four rounds of scrubbing, rinse with the handheld shower attachment). I ended up finishing three sets. Four more to go--six if I dig into the basement office.
Speaking of the office, that's next up. I changed out Jacob's bookshelf today with one we bought last night, so his tiered cube shelf is going to the office. The desktop computer will be packed away, the desk tossed (it's been falling apart for years and it's so big), and I'm going to reorganize all the rest of the stuff that's in the desk. I also used a couple underbed storage bags to hide gift bags and tissue paper under the couch in the office. In an unrelated move, I also bought a giant bin to put all of our photo albums in, which is supposed to free up space in our dining room shelf/cabinet for extra food and/or appliances. Turns out the bin weighs about a million pounds, so it will be going back to the store in exchange for two smaller ones. I also need to buy an external hard drive to put all of our digital photos on that will be staying at my parents' house. Since Flickr was my backup of choice and they changed their policy, I need a new backup, and I figure having everything in two locations is all I can do.
So, yeah, whether it was the urgency of death or the springing of spring or a perceived lack of control, I have no idea. But it feels good to get things done. There are probably a million more other things that should be more important (plumber, tree service), but when the mood strikes, I'll take it. I also fit in a run and some races with Carter, and did a lot of kid separating. So it was a full weekend. Hopefully we'll have some fun ahead next weekend, and even more the following week for spring break and Easter, but I have a lot of work days to get through first. I'm sure I'll be wishing them away, against my better judgment, but it's hard not to when we get a little break from the usual! I can't wait!
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