Hyde Park day

Sooooooo....Abe had a little run-in with rush hour traffic a couple weeks ago, and his poor car is currently kaput. As in, we are selling it for scrap metal. Don't worry! Abe is completely 100% unharmed, and the only casualty in this little accident was his car. Phew.

Actually, I am kind of glad this happened. The paranoid part of me loves to see Abe driving with both hands on the wheel, refusing to snack on my open bag of chips because he has committed to never multi-task in the car. I also appreciate his new if-I-don't-make-this-turn-it's-not-the-end-of-the-world attitude. Yay for super safe driving practices!

That said, we are down to one car now. I rarely use my car, so this is usually not a big deal. However, I have been commuting weekly back to Hyde Park to teach piano, and on Hyde Park days coordination gets a little tricky. Take yesterday, for example. I didn't have to be in Hyde Park until almost 4pm, but since Abe had work meetings all day, he dropped me off in Hyde Park at 10:30am.  I had almost 6 hours to kill.

Luckily, the Hyde Park Borders was having a huge sale. The sad news is that the store is closing, but the good news is everything in the store is at least 30% off! I walked in determined to exercise restraint, but then Abe called and told me to go crazy and buy whatever I wanted. (I think he felt bad about the 6-hours-to-kill bit of my day...) So I did!

I think the employees thought I was a little cuckoo; by the time I made it to the top of the stairs, I was practically hyperventilating because my basket was so full. Two kind-hearted Borders people immediately besieged me, offering to take my basket and inquiring with concerned looks about how soon the baby was due. I thanked them for their help and made myself at home in the children's section. I gathered a giant pile of books and then plopped down on the floor to review them and calculate their cost. What a waste of time.  I am terrible at math and couldn't seem to remember how much any one discounted book cost, so my attempts to add up all of the books were futile. After sitting there for the better part of an hour while the employees repeatedly checked in on my condition, I decided to give up trying to figure out how much the books cost and just bought them all. I told myself that Lydia would be happy with that decision.

 With that activity down, I called Abe and broke the news about my splurge. Buoyed up by his affirmative response, I cheerfully made my way here:

I killed the next couple hours cozy in a comfy chair, drinking a giant cup of hot cocoa and reading How to Teach Beginners (a book on teaching piano using the Suzuki method), one student's music theory book, and the novel, Suite Francaise. Life felt pretty good.

Then I decided it would be prudent to eat lunch. Just across the street was Ceders (http://eatcedars.com/index.php), a great little Mediterranean restaurant with knock-out lentil soup. Yum!

By that point, it was almost time to teach piano. I looooooove teaching piano, so this felt like another treat. By the time Abe picked me up at the end of the day, I had passed the time going from one pleasant activity to the next.

It really had been a great day, but for some inexplicable reason, I was a grump the whole way home. Maybe it's because I'm actually 2 years old and need a nap in order to maintain a semblance of civility during any given 24 hour period. Or maybe it's because I ate my dinner, a sandwich from Jimmy Johns, in the car. By the time I was done, my hair was full of crumbs, my coat smelled like sandwiches, and I was dying for a clean restroom. In any case, I arrived home irritable and full of complaints.

I had a meltdown about how messy the car was. Abe cleaned the car. We got to the hall and I had a meltdown about how messy the hall was. Abe cleaned the hall. On my way to the bathroom I had a meltdown about how messy the bedroom with the baby stuff is. Abe cleaned the bedroom. He then cheerfully announced that my Martha Stewart magazine had arrived and that he was sure that would help make me feel happy. At that point, I had a meltdown about all of my meltdowns.

I don't recall being this crazy before I was pregnant, but maybe I was and just never knew it. My last hope is that after Lydia comes (and I'm praying she comes SOON), I will somehow morph into a calm and wonderful person who never ever does or says anything irrational. I had the benefit of being raised by a mom who was always--always--loving, kind, and rational. Hopefully she'll agree to live with me so that my poor children can have the same experience.