Opening Ceremonies

Come 530am I crawled out of bed after nearly 10 hours of sleep. I felt fine save for that lethargic feeling I sometimes get from sleeping for too long. However, those feelings quickly abated after I slogged through my morning calisthenics. I spent several minutes at my PC sipping coffee while reading headlines, email, and The Daily OM. I failed to wake Mindy for work, and then gave her the dickens for startling me in the middle of my stretch routine around 620am. I asked what she was doing up. I mistakenly assumed she was off school just like the kids. But when she corrected me I remembered that only the kids had the day off. Oops! After pouring herself some coffee she headed back upstairs to ready for school. I left for my run around 640am running the full four miles. Mindy & the kids were readying for departure by the time I returned home. The kids were going to Grandma Sharon’s for only the first or second time this school year. Bella was especially excited about it, but Jacob was OK with it too. It seemed odd having the house all to myself. I ended up leaving for work at 810am. Work was calm, especially for a Friday. Me, my boss, and a peer went to lunch together around 12noon. We chose P.F. Chang’s. All three of us ordered one of their lunch bowl combos – a really good deal. My boss picked up the check.. Thanks Ryan! The early afternoon remained calm. Around 2pm I left to run a Valentine’s Day errand. I headed towards Kroger to get Mindy some roses. I didn’t want to wait until after work when I’d most likely find myself competing with other husbands for the leftovers. I bought two dozen - a dozen pink and a dozen red. The pink were especially nice. I also bought a heart shaped box of Dove truffles – chocolate hazelnut - and a card. I was back at the office by 230pm. The end of the work day moved slowly. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That simply meant that it was calmer than usual. I talked with Mindy sometime late in the work day. She shared her plans to make pork nachos and tacos for dinner and then asked about inviting the neighbors over. Sounded good to me. We also briefly discussed our plans to ski on Saturday. I arrived home around 6pm. I presented Mindy with her Valentine’s gifts as soon as I was in the door. She seemed to enjoy receiving the roses, and really liked the pink ones. I thought she would. Meanwhile, the leftover pork roast was already simmering on the stove with taco seasoning mixed in. She shared that the neighbors would be down around 630-7pm. And since I’d already sprung my Valentine’s gifts on Mindy, she decided to do the same. Mindy corralled the kids and then presented us with our V.D. gifts. The kids made us both a special card with some very kind, very loving thoughts. Jacob did this all on his own accord. Very nice! Mindy gifted me a horseshoe shaped neck pillow, which she said is for flying, but I foresee using it when lying on the floor. She also gifted me my very first iTunes gift card. Cool! The kids gifted me some V.D. themed M & M’s. We gave the kids each a small box of V.D. chocolates. It wasn’t long before dinner was ready and the neighbors arrived. It was just after 7pm. Mindy laid the loaded nachos out on the table for anyone interested. I ate just a few opting instead to make my own burrito. We were anxious to watch the opening ceremonies of the 21st Winter Olympics live from Vancouver, B.C. They were slated to begin at 730pm. At Chrissy’s prompting, we tuned the TV to Home Makeover’s anniversary show. It was a cool show. I think we watched that until 8pm. The actual opening ceremonies were already underway, but the parade of countries was just about to get started when we rejoined NBC. We stayed tuned to the Olympics for the duration of the evening. Kenny & Chrissy headed home around 10pm after Chrissy’s back started bothering her. Having dealt with severe back pain a time or two, I know how difficult it can be to enjoy one’s self under such circumstances. Kenny left the kids stay at our place a while longer while he walked Chrissy home. He returned fifteen minutes later to get them. That had to be around 1030pm. Mindy & I tucked the kids in soon after Kenny and the kids departed. Mindy and I stayed up watching the Olympic festivities leading up to the lighting of the torch. We headed to bed to catch the torch lighting ceremony. It should come as no surprise that I fell asleep before it unfolded.