I giggled all the way up the 3 flights of stairs to my floor (((PAUSE: those of you that know me, and my hate for all things resembling exercise, may have been taken aback by that comment. Turns out I hate germs more than stairs. An elevator in a hospital is about the grossest place in the world to me. When the doors open, it’s like a Lysol commercial – I can SEE all the germs dancing around in the air; having a party on the panel with the push buttons. Just writing about it makes me pull out my antibacterial gel. That said – I always try to take the stairs at work just to avoid an elevator of sickies.))) and I noticed that there was a LOT of traffic in the stairwell! I passed about 15 men in hardhats….and suddenly I was nervous. I had to act casual as I took the stairs 2 at a time to the one step between the 4th and 5th floor that houses my mint.
You see, when I was about 7 months pregnant, I was coming down the stairs from the 6th floor and talking on the phone to my sister. This is not out of the ordinary; however, this particular month, I was starting to feel really large and clumsy and I think I subconsciously called someone on stair-hikes just so they could call 911 if they heard me fall. Anyways, as I was heading down the stairs, talking to Jodi in a very animated way, the BreathSaver in my mouth flew out. I remember the event so vividly, but it was just a millisecond pause. I think I even kept talking as I mentally scanned the pros and cons of bending down to pick up the mint. I’m not a litterbug and I get annoyingly mad at people who don’t just put things in a trashcan. But I knew in an instant that it was NOT a good idea to get the mint. I moved on, kept talking, and even forgot about it by the time I was back down to 3.
For the remainder of my pregnancy, every time I would pass the mint I would remember that I could really hurt myself bending over on the steep, concrete, often-vacant employee stairwell. I ignored it.
When I came back from maternity leave, I was intrigued to find that the mint was still there. I kept it to myself for months, but finally told some co-workers last spring. I would see it everyday and at this point and I didn’t pick it up… simply because it was still there.
So on this day, SEVENTEEN MONTHS after the mint fell out of my mouth; I just knew that one of these construction workers had disrupted it. Kicked it, smashed it, maybe even picked it up with a tissue and flushed it?
Nope, it’s still there. Thank you construction crew, for just letting it be. And a big thank you, AS ALWAYS, St. Luke’s Cleaning Services.
In other news, we took Jenna to the beach.
Kevin came home last Monday night and said “let’s go to Kemah.” I immediately found us a room and almost booked it when he changed his mind and declared, “let’s go all the way to the coast.”
So we headed down to Galveston for a quick, fun weekend. The weather was perfect and there were a lot of festivals downtown. So great to see the city rebuilding after Ike and amazing how bad it really was.
When her feet would sink into the sand/mud, she’d laugh and laugh. When she’d fall into the water, she’d laugh and laugh. Nothing scared her; nothing bothered her - - even the saltwater rash that broke out all over her body- - except for when we’d head back to the stroller!
Trip 2 - We decided to stay on the sand......
After more candy than any 15 month old should be allowed, she deserved the devil horns….
But really, she was absolutely perfect. Funny and charming and never once was whiney. She loved all of it and wasn’t afraid of a thing. Halloween was a hit.
