Whirlwinds
This weekend we went back to St. Louis again for more wedding planning. This time, we spent some time with all of Stephanie's living grandparents. And as it turns out, they are all very nifty people. (In fact, her maternal grandmother reminds me of a (very old, sighted) Dacia)
Stephie and I are both very, very drained now. We need to detox; pamper ourselves somehow. And that somehow needs to be not food-related, because we were taken out to Pasta House (catering), Olive Garden (her father and grandfather), and to a wonderful steakhouse (her mother and grandparents)--and then came back to Columbia only to have roast and butter cake with my parents. I'm not too worried about the pampering, though--we'll figure something out, it'll happen, and it'll be happy. It sounds as though today we'll be focusing on laundry and watching a movie.
Our townhouse is a mess right now, though--on Friday, right before we left for St. Louis, Stephie noticed the carpet around the closet holding our hot water heater was damp. Taking a look, we found that water was leaking (not dripping; leaking) from the bottom of the tank. Nothing too important was waterlogged, but we had to move our table and two of our bookshelves out of the way. Despite making us a little late for our catering appointment, the timing was pretty fortuitous--they replaced the thing while we were out of town so we didn't have to deal with noise, distractions or cold showers.
Stephie's birthday is coming soon and I don't know what to get her. I am a little worried about that.
Meanwhile, I feel different. Refreshed, maybe? It's like a veil of naivety has been lifted and I understand better my place in the world. It may have something to do with the amount of time Stephie and I have spent in the car together lately, talking about randomnocity. It may also have to do with watching her interact with her family, seeing how she feels about various situations. She's a compassionate person and I greatly admire her. She sometimes complains about having a mean streak, but I think those times are just the voice of her frustrations of the imperfection of life and humanity. When it comes to dealing with people directly, she's far kinder than I am.
Stephie and I are both very, very drained now. We need to detox; pamper ourselves somehow. And that somehow needs to be not food-related, because we were taken out to Pasta House (catering), Olive Garden (her father and grandfather), and to a wonderful steakhouse (her mother and grandparents)--and then came back to Columbia only to have roast and butter cake with my parents. I'm not too worried about the pampering, though--we'll figure something out, it'll happen, and it'll be happy. It sounds as though today we'll be focusing on laundry and watching a movie.
Our townhouse is a mess right now, though--on Friday, right before we left for St. Louis, Stephie noticed the carpet around the closet holding our hot water heater was damp. Taking a look, we found that water was leaking (not dripping; leaking) from the bottom of the tank. Nothing too important was waterlogged, but we had to move our table and two of our bookshelves out of the way. Despite making us a little late for our catering appointment, the timing was pretty fortuitous--they replaced the thing while we were out of town so we didn't have to deal with noise, distractions or cold showers.
Stephie's birthday is coming soon and I don't know what to get her. I am a little worried about that.
Meanwhile, I feel different. Refreshed, maybe? It's like a veil of naivety has been lifted and I understand better my place in the world. It may have something to do with the amount of time Stephie and I have spent in the car together lately, talking about randomnocity. It may also have to do with watching her interact with her family, seeing how she feels about various situations. She's a compassionate person and I greatly admire her. She sometimes complains about having a mean streak, but I think those times are just the voice of her frustrations of the imperfection of life and humanity. When it comes to dealing with people directly, she's far kinder than I am.