[Blogger's note: I don't usually have such stream-of-consciousness blog posts like this, especially not journal-y ones but I think you'll enjoy the break of pace and I found it enjoyable to write.]
We went to Edmonton to get me a passport. Unlike what everyone told me, it was a brief wait made enjoyable by conversations with strangers, and I'll be able to pick up my passport in a few days before I fly out. Everything has been working so smoothly for me lately. Well, aside from my day of parenting hell a couple of posts ago. Aside from THAT. It's like I have awesome karma and the power to make things BE. Even with my birth certificate. I couldn't find it anywhere and had to order a new one. I ordered it from Ontario with a guaranteed five day delivery. Got here the next day! AWESOME. (Oh. Some of you don't know. I'm going to Wales to see My Burtons and to get a much-needed break from me and my life, to gain some perspective and come back ready to tackle this Becoming Something with a little more commitment.)
Anyway.
We ate at The High Level Diner, a fabulous tiny spot that always has a wait time. The food is healthy and gourmet and inexpensive averagely-priced and there's a lot of original art on the walls for sale. I had basil, pecan, and goat cheese stuffed sole with a lemon butter sauce and it was divine. Maybe I'll make it in Wales.
Daisy, our gorgeous 6-year-old was really hungry and she had turned on her Child Fabulous personality that we haven't seen in a while. She can be extravagantly dynamic and enjoyable such that it's impossible to not imagine every single person ever of All Ever falling in love with her. Unfortunately, you can imagine how far the opposite end of the spectrum goes. Woe to the man who marries her.
So, she was laughing and grinning up to her temples and telling Jude that she was going to eat him and just being terribly silly.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a ton of people. I would eat all the people in France and all the people in China. And then I'd be so fat that I'd have a biiiig burp. And they'd all come out with slobber all over them and in pieces."
And then she laughed somewhat maniacally.
Maybe that doesn't sound as funny and charming to you as it was to me but keep in mind she has been a nightmare for months. It was like coming out of solitary confinement in Croatia, for me to see her this silly and fun.
It's been nice for Jude to have every August Friday off. Genius, really. Every week should be a four day work week. I might be able to do right by Michael Jackson and heal the world and make it a better place if only there were more four day work weeks.
We drove home listening to some soothing French singing and climbed into bed and napped. I woke up in that really groggy state where it's kind of unpleasant but also kind of fantastic? And we had a simple supper-- actually, wait. I only had blueberries because I ate a wheelbarrow's worth of food at lunch (like, EVERYBODY'S leftovers) and Jude made the kids something and I don't even know what because I didn't leave the sofa. It was awesome. So, I actually have no idea how "simple" it was.
Then I tucked the kids into our bed for their Friday Night Sleepover tradition where we let them sleep in our bed until it is time for us to climb in and then we put them all back in their bed. I'm such the slacker. That's like, our only tradition. And it's great because it means I only have to go to one bedroom, they all say their prayers, and that's it. It's like, a tradition where I don't have to DO anything. I should be marketing this brilliance of mine.
So, I come downstairs and Jude has weird look on his face. And he's watching Oprah. I know. FREEEAK! And it's an episode about straight women who have fallen in love with other women-- ahem-- and he's wondering why the recording is protected from deletion on our PVR. And I honestly have NO idea. Maybe God recorded it for me and protected it because he knew we would want to watch it. I have the tv set to automatically record and store up to five Oprah episodes and I haven't even watched Oprah in months. I haven't watched tv in months. I swear I've never seen this episode, never mind set it to elite protection status. So, we're watching this episode together and having a lot of discussion and this woman who was married for 25 years says, "It's not about sexuality; it's about identity." And that's where we paused it because ohhhh, we completely disagree with that statement. I think it's the exact opposite. If sexuality is as fluid as Kinsey asserted-- and I absolutely believe it is, and the expert on the panel says it is more so with women-- then that's not about identity. Especially as it changes over time, as it has with me. I range between 2 and 4 on the Kinsey scale so I think my opinion on the matter means uh, volumes to the study of this topic. Right? Like, duh.
So, then Jude asks me if I've seen the catalogue he brought home of kid beds. I must repent for telling him he doesn't get excited about stuff and edit that to read that he doesn't get as excited about stuff as I do. Because how freakin' adorable is it that he saw this shop that had kid beds in it that had canvas toppers that turned them into castles and play forts and he had to go in and he brought home the catalogue and was all, "Wouldn't it be great to get something like this?" when our kids have perfectly fine beds (Josie's is brand new) and he's not one to want to buy a lot of stuff. And also, the stuff isn't that impressive. I see things like this in magazines and online all the time.
"You're so sheltered", I said.
"Yes, sheltered in my cozy little world of violent, degenerate crime." And he tapped his finger tips together, fiendishly. (He puts people in jail for a living. Sort of.)
Finally, Jude had, well, peed about a minute before I needed to do the same.
"It smells like apple juice in here," I said.
"Well, that's because I've been carefully working on a formula for my urine to have a commercial resale value."
And I laughed and laughed and laughed.
"You're such an easy laugh."
"It's a very happy way to be."
And then I came and wrote all this down.
THE END.
Daily Gratitudes
- Jude made me a nice cup of fake coffee which I am drinking from the mug I made Louise for her birthday.
- The mug I made Louise turned out really well. I impress myself occasionally. Okay, so all the time. But it never gets old.
- I've had this weird, nice feeling of peace all day. I'm very calm and lack ambition and don't even feel bad about it.
- I love the built-in book shelves in my living room.
- I'm going to LONDON, baby! Now, tell me: What should I say to Jude Law when I bump into him? I'm probably not going to have enough time to have him fall in love with me as per #67 on my life to-do list on the right there, but I'll need to have something unstupid to say. Seriously, I seem to be attracting to me all sorts of good things right now. I've been predicting stuff that has come true. I'm like, tuned in to things. So, I would not be the least bit surprised if I bump into Jude Law. I don't REALLY think it will happen but it's good to be prepared. So, what the heck do I say as a conversation starter? :-)
