Surprises

The weekend started off with a frantic race to get to school on time. You see, I had to pick up not just a Monkey, but also a rabbit. Class rabbit, who comes to spend the weekends with the kids. The teacher cleaned the cage, showed me the food and the water, reminded us that the rabbit will only come out on the carpet, not bare floor, that she won't jump from any height, and that she does like to chew on wires, so we should keep the same from her.

After the cage was secured in the back of my car, things got remarkably more calm. A relaxed drive home, and some no-rush prep work in the kitchen while we waited for Monkey's play date and her mom to arrive, and then, while the girls played, and we chatted, waiting for the respective fathers to show. I have to say, it is a weird weird feeling to contemplate that someone with whom you used to spend hours discussing the finer points of dorm character line up is now a high-risk OB. As cliche as it sounds, just by virtue of the number of years it takes to become one of those, having a friend with that kind of a job does tend to underline one's own standing as an adult.

Saturday I was pleasantly surprised to wake up at 10 am and discover, in that exact way, that JD and Monkey let me sleep in. Later, we spent some time figuring out one of Monkey's Hanukkah gifts, inspired by Niobe. And you know what, it's a pretty cool gift for a five year old. The cost was justified, I believe, fully, by the fun involved in getting a good shot of the rabbit. Which she did.

 

She got a bunch of other good shots after. However, and unfortunately, rabbit-related surprises didn't stop there. It turned out that the rabbit likes to leave surprises wherever she goes. Little round ones. Even though the teacher said she would not do that. Oh, well. That's what the vacuum cleaner is for, right?

Biggest surprise of the day for me, though, and this is saying a lot, since, remember, I got to sleep in, was that I managed to talk JD into taking some of the boxes that have been living in our garage from when I moved out of my old work office to my new work office. It was actually kinda fun, but then I wasn't the one doing most of the heavy lifting (but only because I had to keep opening the door to the building). We were surprisingly efficient, and afterwards got some coffee and talked about nothing important. Both of which was very nice.

We had a long pajama morning/afternoon yesterday, and then our very first fondue dinner, with guests. It was nice and yummy, but we broke the cheese pot after we finished the cheese course, so the to-do list now includes finding a replacement part. I have to say that since I never had, let alone made, meat fondue before, I am doubly impressed with how well that part turned out.

I snuck away from the table at 7pm to light our candle. I thought I would just do that quietly, and I did. I was surprised a few minutes later by a strong need to go back to that candle and say some names. So I did that too, and held that candle in its tall glass jar, warm but not hot, and thought of many, and it was a good thing to do.

This morning was the return of hectic, with a vengeance. JD had to go to the hospital for the moved tests, and I had to get Monkey to school, and then self to the same hospital for the long-awaited appointment with genetics. Which, surprisingly, didn't suck. They didn't push PGD. Instead they suggested the full sequencing work up on my CFTR gene copies, just as I was going to ask for, and I happily accepted. In the area of gratuitous thoroughness, they also suggested a test for fragile X, for which there is not really an indication in my history but more the lack of conclusive evidence against, and karyotyping, just for kicks. I agreed to both, since I was already getting blood drawn, and the results shouldn't take any longer. The biggest surprise was that the genetic counselor looked up what I do for work and didn't try to tell us about chromosomes and genes. Somehow, that was very important to me. I think I might think about that some more, and maybe return to it in a different post.

So to conclude this surprisingly boring post, I have a mock transfer on Wednesday. Tell me, is it going to suck? Do I need to take me some pain relievers beforehand?