Having A Long Weekend with my Hubby

97°F | °C

Current: Mostly Cloudy Wind: SE at 8 mph Humidity: 22% Thu 104°F | 88°F Fri 107°F | 87°F Sat 105°F | 86°F Sun 100°F | 88°F

Wow! This is what we're preparing for. I plan to be hanging around the pool as much as possible, to avoid these crazy temperatures.We leave out tomorrow morning and my brother-in-law (not the lummox) is staying at our home to babysit the dogs. Despite it not being the lummox, I'm still nervous and I hope hubby is clear on the ground rules. I hated the violation I felt the last time we left a relative in our home. My girls, thankfully, are staying with their aunt and cousins so, they won't get bored and they'll probably not even miss us.

Hubby's motive is to travel to a professional bodybuilding show as a spectator and possibly gain some sponsorship. I hope that he can network and gain what he needs while we're away. I also hope he doesn't forget about me. So often, a business/pleasure trip can tilt too far in one direction. I can just imagine taking the car and returning hours later to him not even realizing I had left in the first place. He could get that involved with the people he's talking to.

August is nearly here! Were the heck did the summer go? I'm not complaining at all (the sooner my eldest gets back into the classroom the better). I am getting anxious now about our vacation plans, since not everything is in place yet. We've got to get on that. Perhaps hubby and I can make an appointment for ourselves, so that we can get all of that taken care of next week.

Also, the Babe's birthday is coming up. I've created her invites and have in mind what the girls will be doing. I've even made arrangements for her sister, so that Indy doesn't cramp her style while they're trying to be all "preteeny". The cake just needs to be ordered, the gift bags put together and the pajamas purchased (It's an "All Day All Night Pajama Party"). I'm even on the lookout for cute jammers.

So, here's to my Thursday/Friday and having a weekend with hubby. I'll be crossing my fingers that I don't melt from the heat and hubby remembers that I'm there.

Comfort-Level

There is a certain comfort-level that we have with various people in our lives. Some people we keep at arms length with the attitude of, "That's close enough," in our minds, every time we see them. Other people we may feel compelled to hug even when we saw them just moments before. Then, there are those who provide us a service; pedicurists, hair dressers, dentists etc... who are paid (sometimes quite well) to have close, physical contact with us all the time. Many of these people touch us more than our own family (which is an entirely separate post).

Yesterday, my daughters and I drove nearly forty miles into the city to say good-bye to their pediatrician. This man is simply remarkable and I would have driven 300 miles to tell him so. When I was pregnant with my eldest, I was working for a child advocacy organization in their media department. As I was compiling media clips, I came across an article about a man who was being honored as the humanitarian of the year for the state. This man was a pediatrician who had devoted countless hours to the health and preservation of children, not just under his care, but everywhere. I took a risk and called his office to see if he was taking any new patients. To my delight, he was.

I told the receptionist that I was due to have my first child in a month or two and that I was on the hunt for a new pediatrician. It seems he would want an appointment with me, even before the baby arrived. How novel! I made an appointment then went to seem him a couple of weeks later.

Right away I like him. He was friendly, personable, caring and an active listener. He had also adopted children of different nationalities, so he had a broad sense of caring that other doctors here seemed to lack. He was a wealth of information and I felt very confident in my choice after meeting with him. Very shortly after my eldest was born, we began our well-baby visits with him and have continued with the same doctor ever since. When he discovered I was pregnant again in 2005 (I already knew he wasn't taking any more patients and was thinking about retirement, so I didn't even ask), he asked me, "So, will I be taking care of this one, too?" (pointing to my belly). Hell yeah! I was thrilled!

More than once, he has saved my daughter's life and I will forever be grateful to him. Even now, I'm tearing up just thinking about how dutiful he was, when she entered the hospital at four months old. A couple of years ago, he told me about how his wife was ailing (cancer) and just a few months ago, she was in the hospital and he was visiting her everyday (sometimes between patient visits). During our last visit, my daughter saw an obituary pinned to a cork-board in the office, "Hey, mom. That says Dr. T's wife died." After being shown to our room, we waited for his arrival. I asked him about his wife, as I always did during our visits, she'd passed away and that day was his first day back in the office. We stood there hugging for I don't know how long. I held back my tears as he became a bit emotional. My heart broke for him that day.

Selfishly, I considered the possibility that he might delay his retirement. I wondered if he would reconsider since having the kids to care for may be good recovery. We received the "retirement party" card in the mail last week. Well, at least I know he'll get the rest and time off he truly deserves.

My eldest jumped into his arms last night (no exaggeration). He lifted all 70 pounds of her off the ground. I wanted to cry so bad, but I held back. I hugged him and whispered in his ear how much we'll all miss him. I really, really will. The floodgate has opened now so , I'd better stop typing.

Meetings and Returning to Normal

Last week, I was on lock-down for work. We were in the midst of marathon-long meetings. Talk about being exhausted! There just weren't enough breaks during the day and I will definitely sneak away more in February (when we do this all over again).

I would leave the house at 6:30am (which means I was up at 5:30am. Not that unusual for me, but still pretty early.) I would then drive the 35 minutes or so into town to the conference/hotel location. We would eat breakfast, then begin our meetings for the day at around 8:30am. By noon, we would eat lunch, then be right back into our sessions. At 5:00pm, dinner would be served then either back into sessions, a presentation or some sort of planned event (I did win one of the raffle prizes; an iPod shuffle...nice, but I already have two and a Nano...oh, well).

By Saturday, I was completely wiped out. When I finally got home Saturday afternoon, I took a much needed nap. Boy, was that nice! I actually looked forward to my regular (?) work week (still getting used to that schedule, too).

The family has invited a slew of friends over this weekend for a fish fry. Not only will we have fish, but hubby has requested my "famous" fried chicken and savory, summer pasta salad. I will also make my Kahlua cake and chocolate chip cookies for the kids. Since I'm still not eating sugar or starches, I'll have to fry up my fish without the batter. That should be interesting. I have to say, though, I don't mind...especially if it keeps me in this size 6 I'm currently wearing.

I will be one cooking fiend! It should be fun and we'll all be out on the deck, enjoying each other's company. There will be a bit of liquor on flow, so I hope nobody gets too crazy (my mother will be there, after all). Saturday also happens to be a Utah holiday. I'll say this; most people are not found "drinking it up" on this particular day.