Five Years of Marital Bliss

Like many recent mornings, I woke sometime between 430-5am only to realize I had another hour or so to sleep. I know that going back to sleep can easily lead to oversleeping, but I've been pretty darn good about waking up again within a few minutes of 530am. However, Thursday morning that backfired. I didn’t wake again until almost 6am.

At first I started to scramble until I remembered that I’d very likely be working from home since Jacob was ill.  I didn’t allow myself too much complacency, however. Even if I was staying home, I still wanted to have my run out of the way no later than 745am. Thankfully, I didn’t have to prep coffee. It was already brewed and waiting. After sit-ups and curls, I headed to the PC with a hot cup of coffee in hand.

Played around online until 620am. By then I figured I needed to get moving. I did a quick mediation then headed upstairs to wake Mindy and deliver her coffee. I dropped off her coffee and wished her a happy anniversary. I asked if she wanted me to wake Jacob and ask how he felt. No. She wanted to let him sleep and stay home. OK.

Back downstairs I stretched then readied for a run. I could see that I wasn’t going to get out the door until almost 7am.  I headed upstairs to tell Mindy goodbye since she’d almost certainly be gone by my return. Just before heading out I sent my boss an email sharing that I’d be working from home.

It was a nice 4.1 mile run. The time went by quickly with my mind racing over several things all at once. As I hit the final stretch before home, I spotted Bella up ahead walking Eiknarf. I stopped for a hug and a pet but then continued on home. However, before heading inside I figured I’d better make sure Eiknarf went potty. You never know with Bella. I started back towards Bella until I saw that Eiknarf was in the ‘dump’ position. I turned around and headed in.

My eggs were ready and waiting in the microwave. I hurried through my breakfast then checked in on work. Near 805am I went to make preparations to walk to the bus stop with Bella. I turned around and noticed Jacob sitting at the breakfast table eating yogurt, groomed and ready to leave for school. I asked his intentions. Said he was going to school. Great! Said he felt fine. He headed out to the bus stop with Bella while I struggled to leash up Eiknarf so we could meet them out there. Sure enough, Jacob boarded the bus for school.

Already logged onto work from home and still in my running clothes, I opted to go ahead and work from home as planned. It didn’t seem to make much sense to scramble and change plans. I dug into work from home and stayed busy all morning long. I was asked to recheck some numbers on that quarterly report I completed on Monday and ended up spending the entire morning redoing it.

Sometime mid-morning and just after a work related call, Darwin stopped by to chat and drop off an anniversary card. Cool. Thanks Darwin! Said he’d stop by later with a check to cover his portion of the Oregon ski trip.

I took lunch around 1pm. Over the next hour I replaced the dimmer switch feeding the kitchen spots and then printed five black & white winter ski photos to go in the picture frames I bought for Mindy as an anniversary gift. I took a few minutes to load the pictures into the frames as well then put them in a gift bag. I felt a large weight lifted from my shoulders after getting that task taken care of.

I had two conference call meetings I needed to join. They were essentially back to back. One at 230pm, the other at 330p. The second call lasted until 430p. By then, Mindy and the kids were home from school. I had to ask that they stay quiet so not to disrupt the call. Once the call ended, I greeted the family, but kept working until just after 5pm. Once done, I then presented Mindy with her card and gift.

We planned on doing to dinner at Milestone 229 down along the river. We’d be taking the kids too. They didn’t’ seem too excited at all. Bella went as far as citing a not so pleasant smell she remembered coming from a visit to the adjacent fountain park last summer. Mindy assured her that the restaurant was nice and that she’d like it. We planned to leave the house at 6pm.

Jacob emerged groomed about as nicely as I’ve ever seen him pull off on his own. OK, where’s the real Jacob? As planned, we were all ready to go just before 6pm so we headed out in the Accord. Traffic was a little heavy as we neared the

Front St

exit off 70E but it wasn’t too big a deal.

We turned east on Main St and parked at a meter along the fountain park's southend. There was only one other car along the entire expanse. Mindy & Jacob headed immediately to the restaurant while Bella and I walked towards the river to check out the newest bridge still under construction. I snapped a couple photos before she and I headed in. By then, Mindy and Jacob already had a table picked out. Having eaten there three or four times prior, this would be the first time sitting in the main dining area.

Our servers name was Rusty. We recognized one of the managers from CBC working there too. We couldn't recall her name, so Mindy asked Rusty. Her name is Danielle. Mindy ordered two pretzel breads as an appetizer. Through appetizers, Jacob picked on Bella incessantly, pointing out all sorts of faults while overlooking his own. We placed our food order after enjoying the pretzel bread. Mindy ordered the scallops, me the special (Mahi-mahi). Jacob ordered the Three Little Pigs, and Bella ordered a cheeseburger with pickles. I drank a CBC IPA while Mindy went with a glass of wine.

The food was really good and the service excellent. Rusty offered to comp us one dessert. We ordered two, the chocolate cake and banana pudding. However, when he brought them, he shared that Danielle insisted they comp both in recognition of our anniversary. That was nice.

It had to be near 730pm by the time we finished and left for home. Looked like it rained while we dined. The once barren row of parking meters was now all but full. I guess we beat the dinner rush. We headed west crossing over the new bridge into the bottoms. We took West Broad St all the way to the 70W entrance ramp then home.

Everybody got changed into pajamas as soon as we were home. Mindy and the kids tuned into American Idol. I watched some but not all. I ended up falling asleep with my head in Mindy's lap while she stretched her leg out across the sofa. I woke for bed around 10pm heading up with all the others.