Curve Ball

I thought I'd write something today insightful today about the Obama inauguration and how happy I am. But people that are much smarter than I am have got that one covered. So then I thought I'd write about my cat cheating on his girlfriend (the story involves multiple cashmere sweaters and should have a soundtrack straight outta the '70s and maybe a pornstache on the cat). Or maybe I'd write about the freakin' snow pile still on the North side of our block despite almost 70 degree weather. But sometimes, life throws you a curve ball. 

I found out today that a guy I grew up with died in a plane crash last week just outside Wray, CO. He was deadheading on the flight so the FAA records initially only showed the pilot & copilot.  But it was confirmed this weekend that Zach was on the flight too and died in the crash.

I have such a jumble of memories of Zach - mostly from elementary school when I was crazy about him. I remember playing blocks in first grade when he told me he had a girlfriend. 

"Oh, yeah, who is your girlfriend?" I asked, trying to be cool and hide my massive disappointment.

"It's you." Zach said. 

 

A little presumptive, but whatever. I was all about being his girlfriend.  Which mostly meant that I let him catch me when it was boys chase girls on the playground and vice versa. But apparently that was serious enough for 6-year olds because our teacher, Ms. Furnace, introduced our parents to each other as the in-laws at Parent / Teacher conference night. Which, I mean, was inevitable since we were going to get married after high school. Zach was going to play for the Broncos and I was going to be a yuppy lawyer. I really wanted to be a yuppy. 

I remember him dressing as an Ewok for Halloween, a whole bunch of us trying to break dance at Christine's birthday party (a massive fail on my part), school plays, and just a lot of silliness (all set to a soundtrack of Michael Jackson back before he was a giant weirdo). By the time Zach and I were in high school we hung out with different crowds. But we still had a good giggle at high school graduation about our former plans to get married (at 6, high school seemed plenty old enough for marriage).

And really, I haven't seen Zach in a long, long time. Maybe 7 years. I didn't even recognize him in the news footage. But the 6-year old in me feels like I've lost my first boyfriend.

Zach was a good guy and my heart hurts for his family.

A Weekend in Review

Friday - SNOW!

I was home for the first snowfall of the season! Every time I left town on a work trip I was worried that I'd miss the first snowfall, that it would come without me. I'm not sure why seeing the snow for the first time felt like such a big deal. But there's something magic about waking up to a snow scape outside, feeling all warm snugly inside. And the first snowfall came later than usual this year (it usually happens on Halloween). So maybe the anticipation was being built up. 

It just seemed like something that would be tragic to miss. And I didn't miss it. I got to enjoy the dusting of snow that we got. Snow means that skiing is coming soon. And Christmas! And also the usual scrape-your-car-off for death defying drives to work too... but that only affects me if I have to drive to the airport.

Saturday - Adventures in Babysitting

Will and I babysat our friends' little girl, Malia, for a few hours on Saturday night. I used to be a babysitting champ when I was in middle school. What else did I have to do on the weekends, right? But as soon as high school came along, that gravy train gave out because it turned out I liked kids my own age a whole lot more than little kids.

So it has been awhile since I've been hanging out with a kid sans a responsible adult. And no, I don't qualify as a responsible adult. But, I had Will for reinforcements. So off we went.

It was actually fun. Malia is 2 and getting her molars in. So her mom was worried that she might be a little bit off. She threw a few puzzle pieces at Will, but I don't know if that qualifies as "off" or "playing." 

We went out to eat and had a little bit of an adventure with the car seat. You see, Will let Malia pick out her own jacket and she picked out the biggest, fluffiest red snow parka to wear. And Malia and her jacket didn't both fit into the car seat. So, we took off the jacket, strapped the kid in the car seat and used the parka as a blanket. I know, we're brilliant. But I think Malia thought we were pretty dumb due to the whole 10 minutes of figuring out the car seat part.

All in all, the night was a roaring success - as Will said, Malia still had all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. So we'd done a good job.

Sunday - Pain

I woke up in pain on Sunday. The throbbing, knife searing pain that comes and goes with my Crohn's. I haven't had it since surgery in January. But there it was, ruining my day. 

Usually, when I get this kind of pain, I end up in the ER throwing up all over the place. It was really fun to do that on a work trip where my boss had to take me into the ER. Fortunately, she was awesome and a half and even though I loved working for her before that, I really loved working for her after. She stayed in the ER with me chatting about all kinds of silliness until I got discharged at 3 am.

And then a few months before our wedding, I had another case where I ended up in the ER. Fortunately, I was in Boulder and Will could take me. And he hung out with me in the ER until almost 5 am. We put the whole "in sickness and in health" stuff to test well before getting married - and lucky for me Will was still up for the job.

So yesterday, I was determined not to end up throwing up in the Boulder ER. I found some remaining pain meds from my surgery and took them. Which knocked me out - my brain and body were worthless yesterday. But I got a chance to watch some movies and sleep off the pain meds. It wasn't the way I planned to spend my day, but it also didn't end up with throwing up in the ER. So, I'd call it a draw.