Wednesdays

Last weekend I attended a baby shower for my cousin's wife. She and her husband are having their first baby in June. It's obviously exciting for them, and scary too, and seeing that excitement was uplifting. I'm excited for our baby to come, but also know the work that's going to be involved so I think I'm trying to enjoy the quite(-er) times I have now.

The shower was one of those showers where we played games. But they were good games - thoughtful games where we didn't have to interact with others and embarrass ourselves. My cousin Mary Ann must have had my Grandma June by her side because she won the first two "competition games" of BINGO and word unscramble. For the third game, we had to think of something that our mothers did when we were little that still makes us smile. I decided to not write about the time when my mom, sister and I were grocery shopping at the Jewel. It was a morning after my parents were out having an exceptionally good time and I think we were maybe 10 and 13. I remember my mom looking not so good. She was in her sweat pants, no make-up, and very tired looking. Ann and I went off to the toy or school supply aisle until we heard over the intercom "clean up on aisle 7. Bring a mop." We looked at each other and scurried off, praying to not be embarrassed. Thankfully, she was fine, stomach contents still intact. But the story cracks us up to this day. I just thought this shower not being that kind of party, I'd think of something else.

One of the more pure things that we used to do was whenever we were walking holding hands, she'd squeeze my hand, I'd squeeze hers, then she'd squeeze mine, and on and on. Now, I do this with Camille and she loves the game. And it's so funny to see the force she puts behind it. To get the squeeze just right. When Camille stayed with my mom and dad when barry and I were in Portland, my mom did it with Camille and she knew just what to do. My mom thought that was just great.

Wednesdays have always been our special day. It used to be the only day I didn't work, but these days, it's kind of just a normal day. But what does still make it special is that we're on our own schedule - Barry is usually traveling, we don't have any commitments, and we do whatever we want. Today we're going to the pottery studio to paint. I'm hoping to walk it being Earth Day. And then perhaps we'll have lunch. We usually go to Panera Bread together. She gets a blueberry bagel with cream cheese, but not too much cream cheese. Then this afternoon, we'll probably head down to Ikea and get an art table for her. (I'm getting a little tired of all the art projects being created on the kitchen table.) Then we'll set it up and do some sort of project.

I love these days because it's just her and me. And now, even more so, these days are special. I need to figure out a way that we can still do these days so that she remembers them and writes them down on her smile list.