Thank Goodness It's Thursday

I walked out the door the other day and my first thought was, "Oh good, it's Thursday, two crosswords in the paper today."

So much for TGIF. I work on Saturdays, so weekends don't mean a lot.

It's mostly little things that I look forward to these days. Enough rain that I don't have to water my flowers every day. I don't have a hose or an outside hook-up, so watering means a lot of trips back and forth from the sink to my little outdoor space. The flowers are nice. The watering isn't.

"The Closer" on TV on Monday nights. I looked forward to that show. I'm a little worried about having to find a replacement.

Thinking of something to write about and getting some comments.

Finding a copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey" at a garage sale. Not that this one has ever  happened. People seem to be holding on to it. I  look forward to finding a copy so I can see why.

But all those things will have to wait. For the next seven days, I have another little thing to look forward to--Flynn is coming to stay.

Alex has some training in DC and, in a complicated transfer plan, 15 month old Flynn is coming to spend some time with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. I get him for 10 days and then spend another few days with him and Alex in DC before they fly back to Africa.

Thursday's crosswords and Monday TV will be taking a backseat for a while because I have a lot to do. I haven't been in charge of a one year old for 26 years and my apartment shows it.  

I'm terrified, I'm excited, I'm putting away all sharp edged tables. I'm moving cleaning supplies. Razors on the edge of the bathtub? What was I thinking? They get put up. How high can a one year old reach? Top shelf behind a closed door seems safe.

But why don't I have safety strips in the bathtub?

They go on my list. It's getting long. Diapers, snacks, divided plate, sippie cup, fruit, food that someone with four teeth can eat, wipes... 

I quit looking for "Fifty Shades of Grey" and started buying toys at garage sales. I went grocery shopping and bought juice instead of soda.

I mopped my kitchen floor. Not for the first time, but I'll probably do it again this week, and that would be a record.

I'm pretty sure the day will come when I'm ready to sit back and say, "Oh good, it's Thursday, two crosswords in the paper today." 

When I can breath and quit seeing everything in terms of breakable or non, potentially harmful or safe. When a day that isn't completely filled up with thoughts of a one year old will be something to look forward to.

Monday nights without "The Closer"? I'm not worried about them any more. I'm going to have pictures to go through, furniture to move back, good times to look back on.

Although I'll probably wish I remembered where I hid those razors? 

Cleaning Out My Memory

I'll be talking to Bess, and we'll be having a nice conversation, and then she'll ask me what I did yesterday.

Yesterday? I have no clue what I did yesterday.

But when I was six we went to Santa Claus, Indiana and rode the....Damn! What's the word I'm looking for? I think it starts with a "c." "C-o" maybe.

This is going to drive me crazy! I'm off to the dictionary. There are 44 pages of "c-o" words in Webster's Collegiate. All small print. Still, I can handle it. My finger scrolls down the list and then stops. I've forgotten what I was looking for.

I remember when I was ten and decided to read all the words in the dictionary. I got as far "asparagus" and stopped. I hated asparagus. It was mushy, and an ugly olive green color, and had these strings that stuck in your teeth.

But I don't need to remember that! I love asparagus now. All I need to remember is not to overcook it and not to buy it in a can. Delete, delete, delete!

I need to delete all this useless information rolling around in my memory so I have room for what I did yesterday.

I don't need to know where all the McDonalds with playgrounds are located in St. Louis.  I don't live in St. Louis anymore and my youngest kid is 27. Time to delete.

And, yes, Clinton brought some shame to the presidency. I remember all the details. Everyone else seems to have forgotten it.Why shouldn't I? Delete.

How to diagram sentences? Pfft! I could do it in my sleep. All the while remembering Mrs. Elliott standing in front of the class in her jersey dress telling us how important it was. But, really, I've become quite comfortable with dangling participles. Delete.

My first grade teacher's name? I don't need to remember that. I can always make one up. If a classmate remembers it differently and I stick to my guns, they'll just blame it on their own bad memory. Delete.

"Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Delete. Delete. Delete. I don't want to hear that one ever again.

How good the chicken at Chick-fil-A tastes? I'm pretty sure I can delete. Because it's never going to taste that good again.

All those slogans from the '60's like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Make Love Not War"? They don't seem to be of much use these days. Delete.

And while I'm at it, I need to get rid of all those words like "neat" and "groovy" and "bummer" and "nifty." When's the last time I used them? Well, okay, I'll keep "neat." The rest go.

Things are looking clearer already. I'm pretty sure the word I was looking for was "colossal." A few more deletes and I might even remember that I went shopping yesterday.

Whoa! That came out of nowhere--winded right through all that useless information and landed on center stage.

If only I could remember if I bought anything and where I put it.

Delete, delete, delete....