A $4 Sticker
To conclude the past series, we were officially a couple August 13, 2006. I went back to school two weeks later, and cried almost the entire drive. It didn't help that I was moving back more than a week before anyone else, a requirement of my dreadful job on campus. I was the only living person in my entire apartment building and the evenings were incredibly lonesome with no one to talk to, no lights (my floor lamp didn't fit in the Beetle and there was no overhead lighting in the building), and no television to occupy my mind. By Wednesday I was more than depressed, and it just so happened that Dan had the day off work, so he made his first 60-minute drive on the turnpike to see me. Being separated really put things into perspective for him - all of his past relationships had been long-distance at one point and he said he'd never missed anyone the way he did with me. We started a routine of seeing each other every other weekend, taking turns of who did the driving.
November brought an unexpected surprise: mono and a ruptured spleen sent me back home where I'd stay until the beginning of January. I'll never forget the look on his face when he showed up in the ED. I'm sure I was a sight to see with an IV in each arm, oxygen, a mask covering my face to contain my coughing, monitor wires poking out of my gown, a blood pressure cuff on my arm and a pulse ox probe on my finger. Nurses, we don't get startled by these things. I was too sick to think about what I'd look like to him. He sat right next to my parents when the doctor came in and explained what was happening and walked along side the stretcher as they wheeled me to the ICU. He sat with me every evening well past the time visiting hours ended.
Going back to Grantham in January was harder than August, we'd grown so close while I was sick. Every other weekend visits quickly turned into every weekend visits. Spring break finally arrived and I made plans of leaving a day early and arriving home as he would get home from work. First all the washers were occupied and I didn't get my laundry done. A roommate was napping in the bedroom so I couldn't pack. The seminar I attended the day I was to drive home ran over an hour late and traffic returning to campus was terrible. By the time I was finally packed and on my way home I was in one of the worst moods ever. I called him to complain; mid-conversation I realized I'd left my tape (I always taped our favorite show so we could watch it together) in the VCR and just lost it. By the time I got to his house all I wanted to do was sleep. Stretching out across his bed, I closed my eyes and was only listening with one ear while he started to ramble about how happy he was. As he reached under the bed for the ring I realized he was trying to propose and I was ruining the moment.
Now here we are, about six weeks away from the next big August 13th, and I'm about ready to have a mental breakdown. I still can't get anyone from the hotel at the beach where we're having our ceremony to return my voicemails or emails. Dan still hasn't bought sandals or picked his ring (he claims he did order mine). The guy who rents the reception hall says it's ours, but we have yet to sign a contract. The caterer also vanished into thin air. My "suprise" shower that my mother wrote on the calendar is in two weeks and all I hear is how unhappy my mom is about having to plan it, especially now that Dan's mom has gotten involved. As for apartment shopping, we won't even go there.
I'm also a little burned out when it comes to the topic of work. In the last month my boss has only been in her office about five days. She went to two conferences back to back, took off for the holiday, went on family vacation, and last week took about half the staff to a seminar on Relationship Based Care. While half the staff was away learning how to do a better job, the patients were receiving the worst care ever because we were so short staffed. I was so burned out by Thursday night that I cried the entire drive home. Thankfully I had the weekend off and was able to relax a bit. I'm really hoping this week is better, otherwise I might just come down with something and need a few days off to recover.
We've decided to make scrapbooks to give to our parents at the wedding. Seeing the sheets of paper were 40% off this week, we dashed to Wyomissing to do some shopping. Picking out the paper wasn't that bad, but when I rounded the corner to the next aisle and saw that these little stickers you put on the pages are $4 a piece, I almost died on the spot. What's the world coming to.
November brought an unexpected surprise: mono and a ruptured spleen sent me back home where I'd stay until the beginning of January. I'll never forget the look on his face when he showed up in the ED. I'm sure I was a sight to see with an IV in each arm, oxygen, a mask covering my face to contain my coughing, monitor wires poking out of my gown, a blood pressure cuff on my arm and a pulse ox probe on my finger. Nurses, we don't get startled by these things. I was too sick to think about what I'd look like to him. He sat right next to my parents when the doctor came in and explained what was happening and walked along side the stretcher as they wheeled me to the ICU. He sat with me every evening well past the time visiting hours ended.
Going back to Grantham in January was harder than August, we'd grown so close while I was sick. Every other weekend visits quickly turned into every weekend visits. Spring break finally arrived and I made plans of leaving a day early and arriving home as he would get home from work. First all the washers were occupied and I didn't get my laundry done. A roommate was napping in the bedroom so I couldn't pack. The seminar I attended the day I was to drive home ran over an hour late and traffic returning to campus was terrible. By the time I was finally packed and on my way home I was in one of the worst moods ever. I called him to complain; mid-conversation I realized I'd left my tape (I always taped our favorite show so we could watch it together) in the VCR and just lost it. By the time I got to his house all I wanted to do was sleep. Stretching out across his bed, I closed my eyes and was only listening with one ear while he started to ramble about how happy he was. As he reached under the bed for the ring I realized he was trying to propose and I was ruining the moment.
Now here we are, about six weeks away from the next big August 13th, and I'm about ready to have a mental breakdown. I still can't get anyone from the hotel at the beach where we're having our ceremony to return my voicemails or emails. Dan still hasn't bought sandals or picked his ring (he claims he did order mine). The guy who rents the reception hall says it's ours, but we have yet to sign a contract. The caterer also vanished into thin air. My "suprise" shower that my mother wrote on the calendar is in two weeks and all I hear is how unhappy my mom is about having to plan it, especially now that Dan's mom has gotten involved. As for apartment shopping, we won't even go there.
I'm also a little burned out when it comes to the topic of work. In the last month my boss has only been in her office about five days. She went to two conferences back to back, took off for the holiday, went on family vacation, and last week took about half the staff to a seminar on Relationship Based Care. While half the staff was away learning how to do a better job, the patients were receiving the worst care ever because we were so short staffed. I was so burned out by Thursday night that I cried the entire drive home. Thankfully I had the weekend off and was able to relax a bit. I'm really hoping this week is better, otherwise I might just come down with something and need a few days off to recover.
We've decided to make scrapbooks to give to our parents at the wedding. Seeing the sheets of paper were 40% off this week, we dashed to Wyomissing to do some shopping. Picking out the paper wasn't that bad, but when I rounded the corner to the next aisle and saw that these little stickers you put on the pages are $4 a piece, I almost died on the spot. What's the world coming to.