Precious and Fragile Things

Once upon a time, when I was visting Sam in Atlanta one weekend, a thunderstorm rolled through while we were shopping at a Gamestop. Water was washing down in sheets across the store's front windows and in less than a minute the parking lot had turned into one giant puddle.

"Drat," I said. "My umbrella is in the truck." At the time, I wasn't in my usual jeans and t-shirt combination. I think I was in a rather nice shirt and had on a pair of shoes unsuitable for running.

"No big deal," replied Sam. "I'll go fetch it for you." And off he went.

I watched him jog across the lot to my truck, grab my umbrella, and then jog back. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, and I'll tell you right now that there is nothing sadder than a fat man in waterlogged pants and shirt. He handed me the still-closed umbrella, and while he could have said, "You owe me," he didn't. He was rather stoic about the whole deal come to think of it, which is impressive considering that he was downright soaked.

"Oh god, I am so sorry." I felt horrible because I knew he had to be feeling all sorts of uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about it. At least you can remain dry now."

A store clerk who witnessed the whole ordeal handed Sam some kleenex for his glasses, and commiserated on the plight of boyfriends who try to do nice things for their girlfriends. Meanwhile, I continued to feel guilty. My guilt only increased when two minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out from behind the clouds. Though we left mere minutes after the rain had started, I never had to use my umbrella and Sam had run outside and gotten drenched for naught. I think by that point my apolgies became rather profuse and Sam likened the rainfall to, "Having buckets of water continually poured on me." When we got back to his house, he immediately jumped into the shower while I played with my new games on my DS.

I tell you this story now, not quite a year after the fact, because Karma visited me today to collect. With interest.

All weekend long, the weather forecast has predicted rain for Sunday through Tuesday (today). Naturally, about the only rain we've gotten was the two-minute sprinkle that happened Sunday, and so when there was even less of a chance of rain today, I don't think anyone believed we'd ever see the wet stuff. Well, the kiddo had a t-ball game scheduled for today -- his second-to-last of the season.

You probably see where I'm going with this already, but let me add that today was my turn to provide drinks and snacks for the team after the game. I hauled a cooler full of ice and Kool-Aid Bursts from the parking lot to the field where the kiddo was playing. This was probably a stupid idea on my part given that my back is still sore from my tragic cat food pouring incident, but Mom was the only other person around and she's had a couple of neck surgeries and she has restrictions on what she can carry. She did at least take our chairs and the chips for me.

I made it to the field with only minimal aches and pains. I got out my camping chair and had a seat, and that was when I noticed the ominous storm clouds floating our way. This has happened before without rain happening, so I was just thankful for the cooler day and the fact that the sun was not trying to incinerate us in our seats. The game was proceeding as planned until only the third batter of the game when the heavens opened up.

My umbrella was still in the truck. My boyfriend is currently in North Carolina and at the time was probably at work where he was nice and dry (well, as dry as he can be when on kitchen duty). I believe my exact thoughts were: "Well, shit."

Fortunately, another team mom was there with a large umbrella and allowed Mom and I to stand under it with her while the kiddo's coach rounded everyone up and took them over to the only sheltered area so they wouldn't get soaked. Naturally, since I was now protected by the umbrella, the wind chose to pick up and the rain came in at me sideways. In under a minute my pant-legs were soaked and my shirt was starting to cling to my lower back.

When the rain didn't show any signs of letting up, I told Mom I was going to take the cooler back to the truck. I'd already folded up my chair when the rain started, so it was easy to carry and this time I just held the cooler by one handle and dragged it along the sidewalk. It was a long trip and by the time I did reach the truck to get my umbrella, the rain was slacking off and I was thoroughly drenched. I'd also learned a valuable lesson. No, not that I should bring my umbrella with me the next time I spy storm clouds. My lesson learned today was that a hot-pink sports bra may not show up underneath a gray t-shirt, but that's only when the shirt is dry. When it is soaked, the whole world will get to see the color of your bra.

It was still drizzling, I was soaked to the bone, and the kiddo was a little damp too. Mom was drenched as well, and I said that I didn't care what the coaches decided, I was done. (They did finally call the game off and let us go home.)

I got to drive home in soaking wet jeans and a t-shirt. Also, my hair, which is long enough again to nearly touch my butt, was wet as well. My truck has a black leather interior. The drive home was probably one of the longer fifteen minutes of my life and very, very uncomfortable.

Karma is such a bitch.

It's been quiet here. After spending my weekend in bed blowing my nose, I have recovered pretty well. I'm still going through tissues, but I can breathe through my nose and I feel like I'm back to normal.

Tomorrow is the kiddo's first t-ball game of the season. I get a whopping hour and a half to feed him dinner, do his homework, and get him changed and ready to go to the field since he'll have speech and occupational therapy right after school. Lather, rinse, and repeat that on Thursday. Again, my mother is coming to the rescue by cooking us dinner and allowing us to stay at her house, which is only a couple of blocks away from both the school where he goes for therapy and the playing field. She's been enjoying having us over for dinner so much she even suggested doing it more often, but I kind of like having days to just come home from school with the kiddo and decompressing here alone.

There's about 25 or 26 days of school left, and I am eagerly counting them down. Starting next week I'll be going through the dreaded back room and a large closet I've used as storage room. It's time for me to start deciding what stuff will be given away or tossed out and what will come with us to North Carolina. Fun times are ahead I imagine.

I'm sure I'll have more to write about after tomorrow, but for now I'm still recovering from the cold and I am a little tired today.

I'm alive, for certain degrees of "alive." At least I haven't developed a craving for brains yet; not even with fava beans.

I am reading my f-list, and trying to comment here and there, but I am so tired by the time I can sit down in front of the computer for more than a couple of minutes that my brain can't come up with anything more intelligible than "Jade need food/water/sleep." T-ball has taken over our lives, and will continue to do so until the end of May, so expect me to be light on posting and commenting save for the weekends until then, and maybe even a little after then as I plan to do some work to the house.

On the plus side, I have been able to do some reading, more than I have in recent months at any rate, and I'm enjoying getting semi-regular trips to the bookstore. The downside of this is that I am learning I really need to get a set of bookshelves. I'm thinking I'll get two; a small one for my bedroom and then a bigger one for the living room. Also need to purchase a desktop computer at some point.

Speaking of household projects, hopefully today I can finish painting the kiddo's room, or at least mostly finish it since it'll need a second coat. Once the paint dries, I get to put up Cars border and decals. I'll post pictures of the before, during, and after.

Tomorrow I might have to drive Mom to a doctor's appointment for a routine preventative procedure, unless my cousin agrees to do it. Kiddo's t-ball game for tomorrow was canceled, but I still need to take Sasha to the groomer for a bath, and then the kiddo may or may not have speech depending on if his therapist is back from the Special Olympics event at another school. Tuesday I have his IEP meeting, and then soon he'll have testing for Kindergarten.

Monday and yesterday, the kiddo had his first couple of games. Monday, he had a hard time staying out on the field, which is understandable. It's been unusually hot for April (feels more like June), and he gets cranky when he's hot. Plus, when nothing is going on out where he is, he got bored. So we spent Monday convincing him to stay out on the field instead of sitting with us, to not much success. Yesterday, one of the assistant coaches took the kiddo under his wing and kept him focused with little reminders, and encouraged him when he went after the ball. With positive reinforcement, he can stay on task. Kiddo still played around (picking at the grass, rolling on the ground when his teammates got to a ball before him - stuff the other kids do on occasion), but he stayed out there.

When it comes to hitting, thanks to a chance for me to give him some pointers at home, he's now on par with his other teammates, if you ignore the ones who will be graduating up to machine pitching next year - really, when compared to the team they were playing against, I noticed the kiddo's team is full of the older end of the spectrum for t-ball. But the coach came over to talk to me to make a point that he was pleased with the improvement and glad I had the opportunity to work with him at home.

OK, time for breakfast for the kiddo, and for the first time in a week, he's asking for something appropriate for breakfast rather than chocolate or ice cream. :)