Where Were You?

Five years ago, I was heading my first solo Board meeting. My boss of two years had tendered her resignation the month previously and I had been fast-tracked into her position so, while I wasn’t new to the Board, I was certainly new to the responsibilities and I was already on edge. Shortly after the meeting was called to order, one of the administration assistants entered the room with our coffee delivery; she also delivered the horrible news about the twin towers. The stress and anxiety of a new job took a back seat to the anxiety of our nation as we grappled for understanding.

Five years later, we are still grappling.

I’m almost ashamed to say that I had a wonderful weekend. I didn’t dread today and the anniversary of 9/11 as I know many, many people did and I recognize how lucky I am to be able to say that. If you aren’t so lucky, my heart goes out to you and I wish you peace.

I also wish peace on the family of our dearly departed neighbor, Bob. We attended the viewing on Saturday and The Girl placed her letter to him in his casket. It was the first time that either of the children had been to a funeral and the closure provided needed comfort for The Girl.

After the viewing, I took the children to Granny’s for raspberry picking which they had no interest in doing or, so I gathered given the dust left in their wake after being given permission to go play. Jana and I managed to pick seven pints of berries without the help of our ungrateful offspring and had a nice opportunity to catch up.

When the last luscious ripe berry was picked, we joined the girls in the tree house and watched from a safe distance as the boys splashed about in the creek and swung from the tree branches. It was a good day.

Sunday morning, I overslept, missing the mass that I had fully intended to attend with the children. I am a horrible Catholic. On the other hand, I did manage to bake and freeze two ten inch chocolate layer cakes, a twelve inch white cake and two dozen chocolate cupcakes for the Man-Cub’s birthday party later this month so, I am a less horrible parent.

As predicted, I did not achieve my goal of staging a photo shoot of the children; cake baking and the cleaning required afterwards sapped all my energy stores and it was all I could do to heckle Hugh about using an entire stick of butter in the stir-fried kielbasa and vegetables that he prepared for our dinner.

I did rally enough to OPIcure (Changing of the Garnet) later in the evening. I even managed to perform my wifely duties, a sacrifice which, in light of the fact that he was leaving town for Fall Market at the un-godly hour of four a.m. I have no doubt Hugh appreciated greatly. And, by “wifely duties”, you know I mean laundry and packing, right?

So, yes, Hugh is out of town for the next few days which means two things; one, that my cooking duties will be set aside for the duration and two, that I will be entertaining men in my house. Oh, don’t look at me like that! It isn’t as if the children will go hungry, in fact, they are totally looking forward to tonight’s promised dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and oyster crackers.

I just hope they don’t give me too much grief around bedtime since, the sooner they are asleep the sooner I can turn down the lamps, light a few candles and get busy with the boys. We can’t do it in my bed of course; the sticky mess on the sheets would require me to do laundry lest Hugh discover it upon his return and, please, I can’t be bothered with more laundry. No, we will have to keep our recreational opportunities restricted to the living room sofa. That’s alright, though, the couch is pretty comfortable and I have the perfect DVD to get us in the mood, it’s a documentary on a local dairy farm; I think Ben & Jerry will love it.

What? I said I was a horrible Catholic, not a total ho.