To Shower or Not to Shower

Saturday was pretty normal. We got Miss 6 to ballet without much incident. Fam even commented on how relaxed I was once we were in the car. (I tend to turn into a stressed out Saturday morning maniac when we’re running late.) But, in order to re-create that reality, I had made the big decision to head out without showering. It was a rainy day. We were just going downtown to a coffee shop while Miss 6 danced. (And isn’t that what ponytails are for?) I’d be going for that hip who gives a sh** Boulder vibe. Keep dreamin’.

As luck would have it, this ended up being one of the most eventful coffee shop visits I’d had in weeks. Ran into photog friend who asked if girls could be in some shots she was planning. And if I might be interested in writing some captions for a greeting card line. Uh. Yea! (I’ve always secretly wanted to write greeting cards. To be queen of the funny and heartwarming sound bite. Actual talent needed to achieve this goal notwithstanding.) But who knows if it will actually happen. She probably prefers people who wash.

Then we saw an old co-worker whose company was bought by a very high profile company. They need writers. And I may have struck gold for the left-hand-turn client too. The product may be a perfect fit. But what a strange, greasy-haired, rainy Saturday morning. Did I mention that this coffee shop was very cool and had amazing cupcakes? Double whammy. There just may be magic in dirtiness.

So if the excitement had ended there, life was good. Instead, I see Crackberry light blinking as we are pulling out of the parking garage downtown. Tinners (friend of over 20 years) was stuck in Denver at the airport. A phone call later we were on our way to pick her up and she ended up spending the night. We had a nice, long comfy clothes on the couch catch up session. Such a welcome surprise. Then she caught an 8:30 a.m. Sunday flight back to SF. Imagined convo with her hubby: “Did you know people in Boulder never shower? It made me feel right at home after all of our time in Europe.” Ha!

Post-shower News
Late Sunday I get a call from True Blue. Sick. AGAIN. Unbelievable. I think I’ll offer to bring over the quarantine tent. What the hell?

On the family front, today brings news that my brother and sister-in-law are planning to vacate CO. Hightail it back to the southland. (This is all a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT but is based on absolutely no definite plans, i.e. a job, a house sold, a departure date, etc.) Isn’t it ever so nice that I get to hear this from the homeland sources vs. the local ones? So glad we spent all that money on therapy. It obviously worked so well. (This is my family.)

You can only imagine the flurry this news and my subsequent enlightenment sets into motion. Phone calls ensue. Many, many behind the scene phone calls apparently. Which results in one late evening phone call to me from my grandmother. She’s worried. Couldn’t sleep in fact until she knew with certainty that I was OKAY. This comes as a complete surprise. I’m thinking wood-in-toe (see story to follow) has caused call. But it’s brother-who-is-maybe-moving-at-some-yet-to-be-determined-date-in-the-uncertain-future. She sees his failure to inform me himself as a slight with imminent consequences. And she doesn't like to see me hurt. She truly means well — family harmony her utopia. But she needn't have worried. I've given it some thought throughout the day, but basically put it out of my mind.

Of course I love my brother (we’re actually pretty close from time to time and even think of ourselves as being on the same 'team'), but he does have a flair for the dramatic — so I’m saving my energy. We’ve been through this before. So I'm firmly in the "I'll believe it when I see it" mode. And if he DOES move, it’s not like we see each other with any regularity. You’d be amazed what a chasm 20 minutes and a tumultuous childhood can create. (Therapy and resultant mutual understanding or not.)

Meanwhile, after our first day of spring break was spent mostly running errands, we take a walk. Miss 6 trips on stump, wood chunk slices toe and makes itself at home, blood gushes. We are at least a half mile from home and I am still under doc orders to not lift her. So she limps and cries the whole way. (My heart!) We finally make it back and I see that the skin is flapping and the wood is deep. A panicked call to hubby and he’s home in a flash. Off to urgent care we go. Beanie and all. I keep thinking how only this morning I tempted the fates with a comment on the phone to my college roommate, “We’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to ER visits. Only one so far.” I was a sitting duck.

Miss 6 was so brave and offered to be an example for all of the grown men who come in crying when the same thing happens to them. What a gal. No stitches, just Novocain and cleaning. Wood safely out. The evening ends at Noodles and there is Peace on Earth again.

(Ava says, “If you had just gone to the zoo instead of the mall none of this would have happened.” Ava, could you please just SHUT it?)

TODAY’S THEME SONG: On Saturday. The Clarks. All in time. It will be fine. Just me, myself and I. Sublime.