April 16, 2011
Another week ending with my thinking WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every night, in bed by 9.00 pm.
And getting there barely awake enough to put on my pjs.
Now that classes are over, and papers are in, with exams being the only thing left. . .
. . .outside of an honours thesis. . . .
I am HOPING that things will settle down.
That peace and quiet will reign.
And I will be able to sit in my office and not have to ignore the pounding on the door after I've told people I wouldn't be in because I had a meeting.
It ended early.
Pound away.
I'm not answering.
The kids had a doctor's appointment yesterday.
And since neither one of them yet possess a drivers licence, I had to go with them.
While we were there, I got a prescription refilled.
For some reason, my family doctor had recently changed his refill policy.
Instead of just calling in and asking for a refill, as I have done since I can't remember when, I now have to make an appointment and actually go in.
So I did.
And while the doctor was looking at my file, she happened to notice that I had not had a pap test since 2008.
Sh**!
I had to make a follow up appointment for a pap test.
A refill for my eczema-ridding antihistamine ends up with me getting a pap test.
I.
Feel.
So.
Lucky.
Nothing makes your day better than knowing that in six weeks you'll be spread eagle on a doctor's table, feet in stirrups, with the doctor shoving a stainless steel-should-be-nice-and-warm-but-is-inevitably-way-too-hot-speculum-up-your-hoo-hoo-twist-it-like-a-corkscrew-to-open-the-entrance-enough-to-shove-an-extra-long-Q-Tip-in-there-to-retrieve-a-specimen.
All while the doctor tells you to just "relax."
Really looking forward to that.
I asked if there was a male equivalent to the pap test.
No, she replied.
Of course not.
Then I asked when Em should get her first pap test.
Imagine the horror on Em's face.
Not until she becomes sexually active. If she's sexually active, she needs one. If not, she doesn't.
Imagine the horror on my face as I awaited Em's response to the question, "Are you sexually active?"
I believed I knew the answer.
But teenage rearing has done nothing if reinforce my belief in the idea that you never really know what's going on, and thus need to be prepared for the inevitable surprises.
But there were no surprises.
Thankfully.
Right now, I'm pretty much out of my patience and tolerance reserves.
And my ability to remain calm.
As we were in Oromocto, it seemed only apropos that I stop into Frenchy's for a little visit.
See what new goods were in stock.
Frenchy's is a gently used clothing store.
I love it!
Since losing this weight, I've found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The clothes I have are too big.
I don't want to buy new clothes because they won't fit in the next two months.
Frenchy's provides the perfect solution.
Pants for $3.95
Shirts for $2.50.
I don't have to run around naked, and I don't have to spend a fortune on clothes I won't need for very long.
Everyone is happy.
I came home with two pairs of pants, two shirts, a sweater, yoga pants, and a button down shirt and t-shirt for Stephen, slippers for Em and a Gucci bag (I think. . .but it doesn't really matter because it looks nice) for me, all for $37.00.
So easy to please am I.
So easy.
Tonight we are getting together for dinner at Montana's to celebrate my fathers 71st birthday.
Family dinners out in public.
Me with enough experience to know what could potentially happen.
However, my cousin and her husband are joining us.
YEAH!!!!!
Not only will we get to spend some time with them, their presence may prevent my father from doing the things he does when it's just us.
Like complain.
A lot.
About everything.
Stephen and I will pick up Mum.
Em is working and will walk over when she's finished.
Keith is working and will not be able to attend.
Mer got the night off as soon as she heard a free meal at a restaurant was in the cards.
Easy to predict, our Mer.
Easy to predict.
Keith has finished his second year of university.
Classes over.
Papers handed in.
Nothing remaining but two exams, neither until close to the end of April.
Translation: a young man who was, up until a couple of days ago, so busy he barely had time to sleep now finds himself with more time than he knows what to do with.
Currently he is celebrating his freedom.
Experience tells me, however, that the novelty of this new found freedom will wear off pretty quickly.
I need to be prepared for the inevitable "I'm bored."
No worries.
Stephen has developed a list of things that need to be done around the house and yard.
And I have all sorts of things he could do in my office.
He'll do them.
Or beg for extra hours at work.
Either way, I won't have to hear he's bored.
Because that may cause me to react uncontrollably and do something I may not regret later.
Title Lyric: Vintage Clothes by Paul McCartney
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
It was committed discreetly. . . .
April 13, 2011
Nightmares of repeating the last week of classes over and over and over again.
Not that I'm work free.
Let's not lose complete control of ourselves.
All it really means is that I'm no longer teaching as of 5.20 today.
Exams, papers, theses all have to be read and graded.
Honours defense at the end of April.
Conference paper to write. . .once I get the data analyzed.
So no.
Not work free.
Nothing irritates me more than people who remark,
"Oh, it must be so nice to have your summers off."
Probably.
I wouldn't know.
I'm teaching Intersession. Two classes. One in the morning, 9.00-11.20 and the other in the afternoon, 1.00-4.00.
For almost the entire month of May.
Three weeks vacation.
That's what I get.
Unless it is in his best interest that I do so.
Planning and executing this party without him knowing took energies I hadn't planned for.
Going downtown on a weekday, with the kids, something I rarely if ever do, and then covering up when he asks me why I was downtown.
Agonizing.
And, to be frank, I am a good liar.
But that doesn't mean I like doing it.
At least not all the time.
That morning I was up at 6.00 am.
Kids had to be present and accounted for at a staff meeting, so I worked in my office while they did whatever they do at staff meetings and Stephen was blissfully oblivious, at home, sleeping, snoring, happily visiting the Land of Nod.
After the staff meeting the errands began.
Dollar Store for decorations.
Em wanted to essentially buy every decoration they had, including an odd assortment of party favours like plastic jewelry and hats.
We settled for balloons and streamers.
Next, the liquor store.
Boxes of wine were purchased.
I don't know wine very well.
That's more Stephen's department.
But I couldn't very well ask him, now could I?
So I went to the wine section, got four boxes of wine, two white, two red, and hoped for the best.
Then, downtown for the cake.
When I saw it, I almost fainted.
It was HUGE.
Remember, I am spatially challenged.
So when the bakery employee showed me how big the cake was, I didn't necessarily understand what she was saying.
I just smiled and nodded and paid.
At the bakery, I was confronted, again, with the repercussions of being spatially challenged.
They didn't actually have a box big enough for it, so while we waited for them to fashion one out of box lids, bakery customers kept coming over to comment on the cake,
"I hope someone loves me that much when I turn 50!"
"He must really love cake. Or he has a lot of friends. Or both!"
"OH MY GAWD! What a beautiful cake!"
It was so big, and so heavy, I had to go back to the car and move it closer to the bakery as Em and Keith carried it out.
I thought I'd just put it in the Staff fridge, down the hall from where the party was being held.
The cake was wider than the fridge.
All I could think of was to beg and plead with the cafeteria staff to house this monolith until that evening.
They were most gracious about putting the cake in their walk in fridge.
Otherwise, I don't know what I would have done.
Really.
By this time, it was 2.00 pm and I was exhausted.
And there was still a party to attend.
Home we went.
And I had a nap.
I had to.
Otherwise I would have been face down in Black Forest Cake that evening.
Which would have been interesting but not necessarily appropriate.
I asked Stephen to get me up for 4.00, so I could get ready for our dinner date.
That was the plan.
Out for dinner.
Some subterfuge to get him on campus.
And then the commencement of the partying.
But he didn't get me up until 4.30.
I was ready very quickly.
Hence, not looking as good as perhaps I could have.
Because of the let's-find-a-place-for-dinner-schomozzle Friday evening, I didn't want to take any chances that we wouldn't be finished on time, so we left earlier than we usually would to go for dinner.
Meaning we were at the restaurant by 5.00 pm.
I felt like my parents.
But early hour aside, it was very good.
We treated ourselves to a beer.
Fredericton has this absolutely fabulous microbrewery, Picaroons: http://www.picaroons.ca/index.asp
Their Irish Red ale is divine! (http://www.picaroons.ca/products_red.asp)
And I had me some.
Stephen had one of their lighter ales.
The name escapes me.
Stephen has the pistachio encrusted salmon.
I had the New York strip loin, rare.
Stephen even tried a piece of my steak.
The man who likes his beef to taste like shoe leather.
I think I may have converted him to the gloriousness that is the rare steak.
Hallelujah!
Dinner was over and done with by 6.00 pm.
We weren't to get to the party before 7.00 pm.
So we did what any couple, out on a Saturday night would do if they had some time on their hands.
We went for a walk.
But I hadn't brought shoes for walking, so that lasted only 30 minutes.
And then I did the only other thing I could think of at that moment.
Drove around Fredericton, looking at our favourite houses.
Meanwhile, I am trying to drive while getting all sorts of texts and phone calls from the kids about what was going on at the party.
April 1st Fredericton passed a new bylaw that it is illegal to drive and be on your cell phone at the same time.
Normally, I would have just passed the phone to Stephen and asked him to relay the conversation.
Not this time.
A multitasker I am, but, not necessarily when I'm driving.
I know some women can put on make up and drive.
Not me.
One, I don't wear makeup.
Two, if I tried applying it while driving, I'd look like Bozo the Clown when I got to where ever I was going.
I had informed Stephen, during dinner, that I had left some papers in my office and needed to go to campus to get them.
THAT is certainly nothing out of the ordinary, as I am always leaving things here and having to come and get them.
My office is on the 4th floor.
The party was on the 3rd.
No problem.
I said I had to pee.
We don't have a bathroom on the 4th floor, so we had to stop on the 3rd.
Then, I said we should check out the Rotunda to see if there was anything leftover from my book launch, in the same room, the day before.
He walked in.
And then. . . .
SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is his face upon entering the Rotunda in Brian Mulroney Hall.
Stephen, me and a good friend of ours. I'm the one in the red. And remember, I've lost 65 pounds. Imagine what I looked like before.
I don't know what I was doing here. Gazing longingly into my love's eyes?????
Em was drafted to serve as Head Cake Cutter. Isn't that cake gorgeous! And it tasted as good as it looked. I know. Atonement for cake eating was Monday morning at SFL.
The other question, of course, is where is Miss Meredyth?
Title Lyric: Surprises by Billy Joel
IT IS THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never thought it would happen.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nightmares of repeating the last week of classes over and over and over again.
Not that I'm work free.
Let's not lose complete control of ourselves.
All it really means is that I'm no longer teaching as of 5.20 today.
Exams, papers, theses all have to be read and graded.
Honours defense at the end of April.
Conference paper to write. . .once I get the data analyzed.
So no.
Not work free.
Nothing irritates me more than people who remark,
"Oh, it must be so nice to have your summers off."
Probably.
I wouldn't know.
I'm teaching Intersession. Two classes. One in the morning, 9.00-11.20 and the other in the afternoon, 1.00-4.00.
For almost the entire month of May.
Three weeks vacation.
That's what I get.
And of that I may take one week.
A couple of day trips here and there.
Otherwise, its me and my office everyday over the summer.
But if you find someone who gets the entire summer off, let me know.
I'd like to meet them.
I don't normally keep things from Stephen.
Unless it is in his best interest that I do so.
Planning and executing this party without him knowing took energies I hadn't planned for.
Didn't know I had, even.
Sneaking around while he's in his night class putting together invitations, hoping he doesn't finish early and inadvertently walk in while I am in the midst of licking envelopes.
Sneaking around while he's in his night class putting together invitations, hoping he doesn't finish early and inadvertently walk in while I am in the midst of licking envelopes.
Covering up for the two invitations that came back because they possessed the wrong address.
From the address book maintained by Stephen.
Agonizing.
And, to be frank, I am a good liar.
But that doesn't mean I like doing it.
At least not all the time.
The Day of Stephen's Surprise Party
That morning I was up at 6.00 am.
Kids had to be present and accounted for at a staff meeting, so I worked in my office while they did whatever they do at staff meetings and Stephen was blissfully oblivious, at home, sleeping, snoring, happily visiting the Land of Nod.
After the staff meeting the errands began.
Dollar Store for decorations.
Em wanted to essentially buy every decoration they had, including an odd assortment of party favours like plastic jewelry and hats.
We settled for balloons and streamers.
Next, the liquor store.
Boxes of wine were purchased.
I don't know wine very well.
That's more Stephen's department.
But I couldn't very well ask him, now could I?
So I went to the wine section, got four boxes of wine, two white, two red, and hoped for the best.
Then, downtown for the cake.
When I saw it, I almost fainted.
It was HUGE.
Remember, I am spatially challenged.
So when the bakery employee showed me how big the cake was, I didn't necessarily understand what she was saying.
I just smiled and nodded and paid.
At the bakery, I was confronted, again, with the repercussions of being spatially challenged.
They didn't actually have a box big enough for it, so while we waited for them to fashion one out of box lids, bakery customers kept coming over to comment on the cake,
"I hope someone loves me that much when I turn 50!"
"He must really love cake. Or he has a lot of friends. Or both!"
"OH MY GAWD! What a beautiful cake!"
It was so big, and so heavy, I had to go back to the car and move it closer to the bakery as Em and Keith carried it out.
I thought I'd just put it in the Staff fridge, down the hall from where the party was being held.
The cake was wider than the fridge.
All I could think of was to beg and plead with the cafeteria staff to house this monolith until that evening.
They were most gracious about putting the cake in their walk in fridge.
Otherwise, I don't know what I would have done.
Really.
By this time, it was 2.00 pm and I was exhausted.
And there was still a party to attend.
Home we went.
And I had a nap.
I had to.
Otherwise I would have been face down in Black Forest Cake that evening.
Which would have been interesting but not necessarily appropriate.
I asked Stephen to get me up for 4.00, so I could get ready for our dinner date.
That was the plan.
Out for dinner.
Some subterfuge to get him on campus.
And then the commencement of the partying.
But he didn't get me up until 4.30.
I was ready very quickly.
Hence, not looking as good as perhaps I could have.
Because of the let's-find-a-place-for-dinner-schomozzle Friday evening, I didn't want to take any chances that we wouldn't be finished on time, so we left earlier than we usually would to go for dinner.
Meaning we were at the restaurant by 5.00 pm.
I felt like my parents.
But early hour aside, it was very good.
We treated ourselves to a beer.
Fredericton has this absolutely fabulous microbrewery, Picaroons: http://www.picaroons.ca/index.asp
Their Irish Red ale is divine! (http://www.picaroons.ca/products_red.asp)
And I had me some.
Stephen had one of their lighter ales.
The name escapes me.
Stephen has the pistachio encrusted salmon.
I had the New York strip loin, rare.
Stephen even tried a piece of my steak.
The man who likes his beef to taste like shoe leather.
I think I may have converted him to the gloriousness that is the rare steak.
Hallelujah!
Dinner was over and done with by 6.00 pm.
We weren't to get to the party before 7.00 pm.
So we did what any couple, out on a Saturday night would do if they had some time on their hands.
We went for a walk.
But I hadn't brought shoes for walking, so that lasted only 30 minutes.
And then I did the only other thing I could think of at that moment.
Drove around Fredericton, looking at our favourite houses.
Meanwhile, I am trying to drive while getting all sorts of texts and phone calls from the kids about what was going on at the party.
April 1st Fredericton passed a new bylaw that it is illegal to drive and be on your cell phone at the same time.
Normally, I would have just passed the phone to Stephen and asked him to relay the conversation.
Not this time.
A multitasker I am, but, not necessarily when I'm driving.
I know some women can put on make up and drive.
Not me.
One, I don't wear makeup.
Two, if I tried applying it while driving, I'd look like Bozo the Clown when I got to where ever I was going.
I had informed Stephen, during dinner, that I had left some papers in my office and needed to go to campus to get them.
THAT is certainly nothing out of the ordinary, as I am always leaving things here and having to come and get them.
My office is on the 4th floor.
The party was on the 3rd.
No problem.
I said I had to pee.
We don't have a bathroom on the 4th floor, so we had to stop on the 3rd.
Then, I said we should check out the Rotunda to see if there was anything leftover from my book launch, in the same room, the day before.
He walked in.
And then. . . .
SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is his face upon entering the Rotunda in Brian Mulroney Hall.
Stephen, me and a good friend of ours. I'm the one in the red. And remember, I've lost 65 pounds. Imagine what I looked like before.
I don't know what I was doing here. Gazing longingly into my love's eyes?????
Stephen blowing out the candles on his massive cake. The young man in the green is my son, Keith. The beautiful young woman in the left hand corner, with the glasses is my daughter, Emily.
Em was drafted to serve as Head Cake Cutter. Isn't that cake gorgeous! And it tasted as good as it looked. I know. Atonement for cake eating was Monday morning at SFL.
The other question, of course, is where is Miss Meredyth?
She was there.
But in true Mer style she arrived after all the work was done.
We'll tackle that tomorrow.
Title Lyric: Surprises by Billy Joel
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I see no reason for being late. . .
April 12, 2011
WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To say that I'm exhausted is an understatement of epic proportions.
Keeping secrets is tiring work!
Friday was my book launch.
It went very well. . .as well as these things ever go.
Stephen was able to get Mum there, in spite of Mer's efforts to delay him as much as possible with her various wants and needs.
At one point, Stephen actually had to abandon her, leave her at her apartment while he picked up Mum.
Everything is about Mer and the world will bend to her will whether it wants to or not.
At least as far as she's concerned.
So, imagine my chagrin when she called me to say she had "dashed" into her apartment to change her clothes and when she came out, Stephen was gone.
Why that child didn't think to just put on a decent outfit prior to going to the movies is something I've yet to ask her.
I'm not sure I want the answer, to tell you the truth.
Years of experience with Mer had provided enough empirical evidence for me to discern on my own what events had occured.
Stephen picked her up from the mall at 2.00.
Their only mission was to get my mother.
BUT. . . .
GST cheques had come in and Mer needed hers cashed.
No problem.
Except that she doesn't have her bank card.
Or any other id for that matter.
Because she lost her wallet.
Again.
Not having such necessities has never hindered Mer.
She manages, somehow, to make do.
Mostly because of her brother, I suspect.
Of course, because she only had a GST cheque valued at under $65.00, and such things as, oh, let's say, FOOD, are optional, she did what any responsible young person would do when they only have a little bit of money.
She went to the liquor store.
Not one liquor store, but two.
Because the first one didn't have what she wanted.
Then there was something about a convenience store, but I may just be inserting that from another incident.
Or I just don't want to remember.
Stephen is looking at his watch.
The clock in the car.
Feeling time ticking away.
Moving like sand through an hourglass.
Towards my fury if Mum isn't at my booklaunch.
And Stephen knows that my mother has been ready since the day before.
And she watches the clock like a hawk.
So, when Mer asked if she could just stop by her place "for a minute to change" and then she was still in there after 15 minutes, he snapped.
Left her there.
Stephen is a great guy.
Mer sometimes takes advantage of his good nature.
None of this would have happened if I had of been in the car.
Maybe that's the lesson.
Which would work if I could just figure out a way to clone myself.
So, shortly after she called to inform me she had been left at her apartment, Stephen called me from the nursing home to share how come he had left her at her apartment.
Picture me in my office, trying to remain calm before my book launch, editing Keith's paper about Tennyson's Ulysses, trying to remain calm before my book launch, and Mer calls and then Stephen calls and then I am not longer working hard to remain calm before my book launch.
I may have snapped, "I DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!"
After we're off the phone, I start yoga breathing because Keith is beside me telling me to calm down, there's no reason to get upset.
All I knew is that it was 3.15 pm and there was no Mum, no Stephen, no Mer and I wasn't certain I had the intestinal fortitude to NOT throttle her when she eventually showed up.
Everything turned out fine.
Stephen, Mum and Mer arrived.
I was very happy my parents could be there.
So much of what I do is unknown to them, so to have them present, to see that I actually do accomplish things is important.
For them and for me.
I said my little spiel.
But not before my father took it upon himself to proofread the few points I had put to paper, and point out to Keith my errors.
Keith, being the little diplomat, and having already witnessed one Mummy meltdown, responded that I wasn't actually going to say everything on the page.
My brother was there, which was VERY nice because he was able to assist with the parentals.
And believe me when I say assistance is required.
The lesson here: never have a book launch when Emily has to work and is unable to assist with the picking up of Mum.
By 4.45 pm it was all over.
Stephen was taking Mum back to the nursing home and dropping Mer and Keith somewhere.
I was directing student to take what was left of the raw veggie platters for their own consumption.
Afterwards, I was with my brother in my office, just sitting.
Talking.
And he gave me a you-just-published-your-first-book-gift.
A Kobo E-Reader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With 100 free books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the capacity to store 1000 books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ironically, this was just days after Stephen started on his mission to rid my side of the room of its tottering and teetering piles of books.
I LOVE my e-reader.
So please, feel free to send me books.
If you can do such a thing.
I'm not technologically advanced enough to know if this is even possible.
When Stephen finally got back to the office, he was exhausted.
I was exhausted.
And it was very clear in my position that dinner would not be forthcoming from my efforts.
But from my wallet.
Thus, we went to pick Em up from work, as there was no school on Friday and began the Fredericton-Friday-night-dinner-hunt.
Swiss Chalet had an hour, minimum, wait for a table.
Lunar Rogue said 15 minutes.
After 30 we left.
On our way back uptown, I suggested Yassous and if that didn't work, there was a Subway in the same plaza and we'd be eating there.
Just as we arrived at Yassous, a table became available.
YEAH!
I love Greek food, and, in spite of how Mer behaved when she worked there, everyone was very nice to us.
Saturday morning, all three kids had to be at a staff meeting for 8 am.
Meaning I had to be up at 6 am to ensure Em was ready to walk out the door for 7.50 am.
And even two hours is usually not enough.
So we were cutting it close.
While they were at their staff meeting, I was in my office, marking assignments that should have been marked ages ago.
Em called at 11.30 saying they were finished and the next stage of the day began.
Getting the necessities for Stephen's SURPRISE party.
Keeping this party a secret had taken over my life.
I decided that Stephen only turns 50 once.
At least theoretically.
And this was something that should be celebrated.
Feted.
Partied about.
So, during our drive back from Montreal during the March Break, when it looked as though I was sleepin soundly in the passenger seat, I was actually planning and plotting about how to pull off a surprise party.
Because I had only ever done it once before.
When my brother turned 30.
And no offence to my brother, but that was a while ago.
The party will have to wait until the next entry.
We are in to the last two days of classes.
I was at work yesterday, meeting with students until 6.30 pm.
Up this morning at 5.00 am to mark assignments.
Blogging throughout this month may be a challenge.
And I may not have much sanity left by the end of it.
Not that I have much now.
Just sayin' it before you do.
Title Lyric: No Reason for Being Late by Jason Boland and the Stragglers
WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To say that I'm exhausted is an understatement of epic proportions.
Keeping secrets is tiring work!
Friday was my book launch.
It went very well. . .as well as these things ever go.
Stephen was able to get Mum there, in spite of Mer's efforts to delay him as much as possible with her various wants and needs.
At one point, Stephen actually had to abandon her, leave her at her apartment while he picked up Mum.
Everything is about Mer and the world will bend to her will whether it wants to or not.
At least as far as she's concerned.
So, imagine my chagrin when she called me to say she had "dashed" into her apartment to change her clothes and when she came out, Stephen was gone.
Why that child didn't think to just put on a decent outfit prior to going to the movies is something I've yet to ask her.
I'm not sure I want the answer, to tell you the truth.
Years of experience with Mer had provided enough empirical evidence for me to discern on my own what events had occured.
Stephen picked her up from the mall at 2.00.
Their only mission was to get my mother.
BUT. . . .
GST cheques had come in and Mer needed hers cashed.
No problem.
Except that she doesn't have her bank card.
Or any other id for that matter.
Because she lost her wallet.
Again.
Not having such necessities has never hindered Mer.
She manages, somehow, to make do.
Mostly because of her brother, I suspect.
Of course, because she only had a GST cheque valued at under $65.00, and such things as, oh, let's say, FOOD, are optional, she did what any responsible young person would do when they only have a little bit of money.
She went to the liquor store.
Not one liquor store, but two.
Because the first one didn't have what she wanted.
Then there was something about a convenience store, but I may just be inserting that from another incident.
Or I just don't want to remember.
Stephen is looking at his watch.
The clock in the car.
Feeling time ticking away.
Moving like sand through an hourglass.
Towards my fury if Mum isn't at my booklaunch.
And Stephen knows that my mother has been ready since the day before.
And she watches the clock like a hawk.
So, when Mer asked if she could just stop by her place "for a minute to change" and then she was still in there after 15 minutes, he snapped.
Left her there.
Stephen is a great guy.
Mer sometimes takes advantage of his good nature.
None of this would have happened if I had of been in the car.
Maybe that's the lesson.
Which would work if I could just figure out a way to clone myself.
So, shortly after she called to inform me she had been left at her apartment, Stephen called me from the nursing home to share how come he had left her at her apartment.
Picture me in my office, trying to remain calm before my book launch, editing Keith's paper about Tennyson's Ulysses, trying to remain calm before my book launch, and Mer calls and then Stephen calls and then I am not longer working hard to remain calm before my book launch.
I may have snapped, "I DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!"
After we're off the phone, I start yoga breathing because Keith is beside me telling me to calm down, there's no reason to get upset.
All I knew is that it was 3.15 pm and there was no Mum, no Stephen, no Mer and I wasn't certain I had the intestinal fortitude to NOT throttle her when she eventually showed up.
Everything turned out fine.
Stephen, Mum and Mer arrived.
I was very happy my parents could be there.
So much of what I do is unknown to them, so to have them present, to see that I actually do accomplish things is important.
For them and for me.
I said my little spiel.
But not before my father took it upon himself to proofread the few points I had put to paper, and point out to Keith my errors.
Keith, being the little diplomat, and having already witnessed one Mummy meltdown, responded that I wasn't actually going to say everything on the page.
My brother was there, which was VERY nice because he was able to assist with the parentals.
And believe me when I say assistance is required.
The lesson here: never have a book launch when Emily has to work and is unable to assist with the picking up of Mum.
By 4.45 pm it was all over.
Stephen was taking Mum back to the nursing home and dropping Mer and Keith somewhere.
I was directing student to take what was left of the raw veggie platters for their own consumption.
Afterwards, I was with my brother in my office, just sitting.
Talking.
And he gave me a you-just-published-your-first-book-gift.
A Kobo E-Reader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With 100 free books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the capacity to store 1000 books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ironically, this was just days after Stephen started on his mission to rid my side of the room of its tottering and teetering piles of books.
I LOVE my e-reader.
So please, feel free to send me books.
If you can do such a thing.
I'm not technologically advanced enough to know if this is even possible.
When Stephen finally got back to the office, he was exhausted.
I was exhausted.
And it was very clear in my position that dinner would not be forthcoming from my efforts.
But from my wallet.
Thus, we went to pick Em up from work, as there was no school on Friday and began the Fredericton-Friday-night-dinner-hunt.
Swiss Chalet had an hour, minimum, wait for a table.
Lunar Rogue said 15 minutes.
After 30 we left.
On our way back uptown, I suggested Yassous and if that didn't work, there was a Subway in the same plaza and we'd be eating there.
Just as we arrived at Yassous, a table became available.
YEAH!
I love Greek food, and, in spite of how Mer behaved when she worked there, everyone was very nice to us.
Saturday morning, all three kids had to be at a staff meeting for 8 am.
Meaning I had to be up at 6 am to ensure Em was ready to walk out the door for 7.50 am.
And even two hours is usually not enough.
So we were cutting it close.
While they were at their staff meeting, I was in my office, marking assignments that should have been marked ages ago.
Em called at 11.30 saying they were finished and the next stage of the day began.
Getting the necessities for Stephen's SURPRISE party.
Keeping this party a secret had taken over my life.
I decided that Stephen only turns 50 once.
At least theoretically.
And this was something that should be celebrated.
Feted.
Partied about.
So, during our drive back from Montreal during the March Break, when it looked as though I was sleepin soundly in the passenger seat, I was actually planning and plotting about how to pull off a surprise party.
Because I had only ever done it once before.
When my brother turned 30.
And no offence to my brother, but that was a while ago.
The party will have to wait until the next entry.
We are in to the last two days of classes.
I was at work yesterday, meeting with students until 6.30 pm.
Up this morning at 5.00 am to mark assignments.
Blogging throughout this month may be a challenge.
And I may not have much sanity left by the end of it.
Not that I have much now.
Just sayin' it before you do.
Title Lyric: No Reason for Being Late by Jason Boland and the Stragglers
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