Helping the Economy

It's again been a bit of a whirlwind around here. Last weekend, Mick and I spent four days by ourselves (!!!) in New York City and DC while my parents generously cared for Jack. It was our first trip away since Jack was born 16 months ago. We had a lovely time: I wandered around New York for a day and a half while Mick was in business meetings, we visited with friends in both Manhattan and in DC (though we wish we could have seen more people!), and we attended Mick's company's holiday party. We were a bit lost as to what to do in DC on Sunday as our flight didn't leave until the evening. It seemed so strange to be back and yet not have a home base. We ended up doing what people do when they visit DC: we went to the museum. We actually visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History which recently reopened after a 2-year-renovation. Sadly, Mick and I were underwhelmed with the renovation. The museum actually seemed smaller and the exhibits were a bit lackluster.

The best part of the trip, in my opinion, was that I actually read an entire book between Thursday and Sunday! This was a giant accomplishment for me because the last book I read (Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time -- which I highly recommend to anyone wishing to learn more about the impact of education, particularly for girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan) I started during our summer vacation in August and just finished last week! It was also great to have meals with Mick where we could actually converse without retrieving food and sippy cups from the floor. Sometimes, we just sat together in silence... and even that was wonderful!

My parents get about a hundred gold stars for taking such absolutely wonderful care of Jack while we were gone. They picked him up on Tuesday and by Thursday by mom knew she had to get him to the doctor because he had developed a deep cough and was wheezing. Of course, I didn't bring his nebulizer to Big Rapids (he hadn't needed it since that awful time in October!) so my mom had to borrow one from the pediatrician in BR. My parents had to do breathing treatments with Jack multiple times a day and they had to cancel their breakfast with Santa outing they had planned to do with Marcus, Deagan and Jack since Jack was contagious. I felt so horrible about that. By Monday, Jack was still wheezing so my mom took him back to the doctor where she found out he had an ear infection and needed additional medication (a steroid) to relax his airways. He's still on the breathing treatment 3 - 4 times/day but it's going much better this time around than it did in October.

Although I felt bad that my parents had a sick kid on their hands, my mom told me it was the best way they could have spent a week. My dad had a rough week at work and, during a time that was very stressful for him, he spent more time laughing and playing with Jack than he did feeling anxious about the office. I never know what to do to repay my parents for all of their help, but I think (and this isn't a cop-out) that having some good Jack therapy is the best thing they could get!

It was good that we were relaxed during our time away because Mick and I returned to Ann Arbor Sunday night to find that our refrigerator died during our time away. That meant that we lost about $150 worth of meat & fish that was in the freezer plus lots of other groceries for which I'm too depressed to estimate the cost. We spent a few evenings this week researching and shopping for a new refrigerator only to find that, because of the configuration of our kitchen, we need a "counter-depth" refrigerator which is a customized feature... costing about $500 more than regular-size fridges. Wonderful. So we bought a smaller refrigerator that costs more than a larger one. Go figure. Thankfully, our fridge will be delivered tomorrow so we can move away from our current system (cooler is the freezer, purple container is the fridge).

We also bought two queen-sized beds on Tuesday night so we have plenty of comfortable room for our parents -- and other friends/family -- who visit. For the last few years we have resorted to sticking our parents in the unfinished, dingy basement when they visited so we are thrilled to be able to give them better living quarters now. The beds were delivered yesterday. Today, we receive our dining room table & chairs.

Between the beds, the fridge, the furniture, etc. I feel that we have done more than our part to help give the economy a kick-start.