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.: Spa Pedicure

.: Sunshine

This weekend can’t come soon enough.

.:

May 7, 2007: The good life…

Saturday morning when my husband left the house on his travels we knew he would be embarking on the dream of a lifetime. I stood on our driveway selfishly moping and sadly waving good bye until his SUV left our quiet suburban neighborhood. When planning this month long adventure I thought how it would be nice for him to take this opportunity, he needed to get out… I’d be fine… it would be fun staying home instead of traveling for business for a change. And, even though we sadly kissed goodbye for our 5 day (yes 5 whole days) separation until I joined him for a few days, it only took me a nano second to remember that my niece, Jenny, and her amazing kids, Turner and Gracie, were coming so I had better get in the shower and get to the store to be ready for them for the weekend. So that’s exactly what I did. And, while I still missed my husband, I was happy to see the kids and we played and ate until their bedtime (7:30 pm) at which time my niece and I cracked open the salt, lime, tequila and triple sec, made us some mean margarita’s for Cinco de Mayo, challenged each other on the Wii, watched a scary movie on HBO and went to bed after midnight. I called my husband and said good night looking forward to a nice night’s sleep knowing that tomorrow was a big day for him.

The next morning I got up early and was shocked at the sight and was immediately reminded how wonderful my husband is. No he didn’t leave me roses (though he does send them multiple times a year); he didn’t leave me a note reminding me how glad he is that we found each other over 7 years ago… No, actually the shocking thing was entirely different… I had walked downstairs and on the counter I saw lime rinds, dirty cutting board and a knife, a lid of salt, empty glasses, tequila and triple sec bottles, chairs strewn about the kitchen, blankets bunched up on the couch, and shoes everywhere. For some, me included several years ago, this is a normal sight. But I was abruptly reminded that it had been years, over 7, since I had seen such a sight. Not once in those 7 years did I wake up to an un-clean counter. Not once in those 7 years did he ever ask me to stay up and help. Not once in those 7 years did the counter ever get that bad in the first place. It had been 7 years since I had, on any regular basis, picked up after myself. AND likely not once in my life before those 7 years did I do dishes at night before bed or Windex the counters or understand the joy of waking up to think only of what to make for breakfast and not to have to clean first …

So… it was with great admiration of my husband that I cleaned the kitchen. And I couldn’t have been more pleased when he called me a little later Sunday morning… And then he told me about his day…

As I said previously, I knew when my husband drove off that morning he was embarking on the dream of a lifetime… You see, he had been granted press credentials at one of his favorite locations in the entire world – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, during the month of May. When he first called and said he got his press credentials – photo ID, parking pass by the Pagoda – I was pleased for him and a little impressed… then when he sent pictures of the press room on the 4^th floor of the pagoda overlooking the straightaway, told of the Chris Economaki interview room, the free media café AND was assigned a desk and a locker for his coat and camera, I knew it was a very special day for him. And then when, the day after the opening day at the track, his first daily column was printed nearly in its entirety, word for word, in our home-region newspaper, I was beaming… I knew it was karma… he was receiving a gift of a lifetime for being himself and granting us the years of his daily ongoing gifts. I’m sure he is pinching himself. And I’m sure he would tell you he didn’t deserve it, that he never did anything to earn this right – I can still hear similar words from Ray Nichels’… but those of us who know him well know that he does deserve it. And we are very impressed with his accomplishments.

I will miss him very much this Month of May but I know he’s only a phone call away and is living what anyone would agree was a dream of a lifetime… And I know that one day he will again become my full-time husband… and I hope he knows that even though I thought I didn’t take him for granted, I now I know I never will again.

And to think I actually have the gall to, with our friends (you know who you are), to mock him about his Windexing affliction. Well now I’m off to tennis, followed by dinner, and laundry, and emptying and filling the dishwasher…. did I say I missed my husband today…

To catch BillyFromPhilly’s writing, go here or here.

After that, I plan on being footloose and fancy-free, and working on this list: (Friday) Fifteen Things to do After the Completion of a Degree.

.: Sleep, glorious sleep. Lots of it.

.: Cook something for dinner, real food that doesn’t come out of a box and get mixed with milk, butter and powdered cheese. Or for that matter, real food that doesn’t come out of the freezer onto a cookie sheet. Also, eat dinner before 9:45 p.m. Hopefully, before 7:45 p.m.

.: Finish all of the unfinished projects around the house. Some things? Started last year when we moved in. Still unfinished. Shameful, I tell you. Maybe next Friday I’ll focus on fifteen half-started home projects. Here’s a preview:

.: Stain and re-hang the handrail going up the stairs
.: Re-do to upstairs bathroom
.: Paint and finish the upstairs hallway
.: Hang the new tracklighting over the fireplace

.: Read. A lot. This and this and this and this and thisandthisandthis. Oh, and this.

.: Get some use out of the gym membership and kick-ass running shoes purchased in February of this year. It’s surprisingly hard to stay motivated to workout alone after 16 hours out of the house at work and school.

.: Reacquaint myself with my bead collection, and turn out some necklaces and bracelets.

.: Spend time with all of the friends I’ve neglected over the past semesters. I have some great friends who have been so patient with me since I’ve gone back to school, and I miss them.

.: Do something with the 10 ft. x 15 ft. patio wasting away out the back door. My goal is to buy some plants and plant-stands, giant pots and planters, and a bench or table and chairs so we can extend our living space out the back of the house. I’m going to need some help with this one… I’m green-challenged.

.: Teach myself more about web design and development. There’s so much I want to know, it’s overwhelming. I want to know about HTML, CSS, XML, Java, all of it…

.: Me Time. I totally earned it.

p.s. I know this list has only 10 items on it, but if you count the sub-lists, there are 21-ish. Work with me, people. I’m sleepy.

Next week is the last week of classes for the semester, then finals are the following week. I’m treading water this term, not doing as well as I usually do. I know that I’m harder on myself than anybody else could ever be, and I’m really trying to keep things in perspective so that I can hang on and get through it without losing any more hair. Or sleep or sanity. Because, really: how important are the Principles of Intermediate Microeconomics? I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

Anyway, the time spent sitting in and/or worrying about three classes, combined with the 48-hour weeks I’ve been working makes Sarah Viola a sleepy, dull (not to mention angry at times) girl. But I have ideas, people, things I can write about. In fact, I’m (almost) working on a real post that I’m hoping to have finished tomorrow night.

So. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, yes? It’s going to be a long couple weeks.