After the kids went to bed on Friday night, I had planned to get Christmas presents ready for mailing since I was running out of time to get presents to extended family members before Christmas. Unfortunately, I did not plan on Michael getting the flu on Friday. And Michael is just, um,
I knew this, but I still tried to get stuff done. Silly me. By 10:00, after having spent more of my evening holding Michael than boxing and bubble wrapping, I decided to call it a night and get some rest while I could. I love it when I actually have these moments of clarity! I relaxed, read, and headed off to sleep.
It wasn't a fabulous night, but it was much better than expected. Michael slept in hour long stretches, which is phenomenal for him when he is sick. He's often up every 20-30 minutes. We even had a two hour stretch of sleep. And despite the fever and the fact that he was miserable, he still had the best manners. (No idea where they came from, but I will enjoy them while they last!) Each time I tucked him back in, I gave him water. And each time he would briefly perk up to say, "Thanks, Mom!" It was adorable. Even at 3:15 in the morning.
I had planned to get up uber-early on Saturday to take care of the presents before the kids woke up, but I had another insightful moment in the wee hours of Saturday where I remembered the kids have crazy bat-like hearing and would be up the second they heard me moving around. So I scrapped that plan and slept til 7:00. But that meant I was going to have to try to work on a project with the kids up.
That turned out okay too. For some reason, they actually let me work for over an hour, with Leon only turning into monkey boy at the end. Ree sat at the table and ate breakfast while I worked. My favorite moment of the weekend was when she read a book to Michael so I could keep working. I have no idea if she had memorized the sight words in the book or she had memorized the book itself, but she read Dinosaur, Danger! to Michael, and they were both blissfully happy with the situation.
Then it was time to actually go to the post office. On the last Saturday before Christmas. With six packages to mail. I had expected the line to be long. I hadn't expected there to be a good 20 - 30 people in front of me. Nor had I expected there to be only two counters open. But I miraculously thought to bring a book with me (I'm currently lacking in techie gadgets, so no entertaining myself that way. And I am absolutely no good at just waiting), so I got some reading done. And I was surrounded by the nicest people ever in line who went out of their way to help me with my packages. The line actually moved pretty steadily, and after about 35 minutes, it was time for the lady in front of me to go to the counter. She actually let me go first so she could help carry my packages. She was so dang nice I almost hugged her.
As I was leaving the post office, I realized that the zip code on the receipt for one of the packages was wrong, so I went back inside to talk to the clerk so the right bar code would go on the package. She was really nice about it, was joking and apologetic, and fixed it right then. Huh.
After that I had to head to Barnes and Noble at Mayfaire, which is one of those big outdoor shopping centers. Doom! But it occurred to me that I had a Chick-Fil-A gift card just sitting in my wallet, so I headed there first. And rather than just grabbing food to go, I decided to sit there, enjoy my peppermint milkshake and read some more of my book. And, as always, the staff there was fabulous.
Feeling totally refreshed, I was ready to actually venture to the bookstore, where I needed to pick up a book I ordered. Because I was coming from lunch, I actually went in the back way, and I discovered a parking lot I had never seen before - and it had parking spaces - and it was halfway between Barnes and Noble and my next stop. Weirdly, I wasn't getting freaked out by how things were falling into place. It was more of a felix felicis kinda thing. I just knew what to do.
As I was walking to the store I realized I needed to use the restroom because all of that peppermint and chocolate yumminess was making someone use my bladder as a trampoline. It was raining, and I was mostly looking down to avoid puddles, but I happened to glance up and see a sign for a public restroom. Um, okay. Went in and discovered it was totally clean and safe, if somewhat hidden. Who knew.
Got to the bookstore and had no idea where to go to pick up the book. Looked up and saw an employee. Ask her, and she said I needed to go to the counter. Then she volunteered to get the book for me. She ask if I wanted to look through it first, and I told her no, I would definitely be purchasing Stop That Pickle (Michael is obsessed with the book), so she offered to ring it up for me. I totally avoided the line snaking through the ropes and stepped up to the register closest to the door where she was working. She rang me up and I was on my way. It occurred to me that I forgot to use my coupon for 15% off, but I was okay with that.
I stopped at the car to put that book away, and headed to a sushi restaurant to get Jeff lunch. I had a great experience there too. It was weird. But nice.
2 comments:
Pregnant women and their privileges. The grocery stores up here have special close-in parking for you, too. That's sexist! Just cuz I can't get pregnant doesn't mean I don't feel lazy sometimes, too.
That would never happen to me. Every time I leave the house I basically just count on everything to go completely wrong and it does!! Pass some of your good luck to me.
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