About Time

January 10, 1999

It's 6:30 PM and the Christmas Tree has left the building. Little needles fell everywhere as I carried it through the study, through the kitchen, and out to the top of the driveway. It was a good tree, especially since we had considered not getting one this year. Jean finally got around to taking off the ornaments. She has tons and tons of Christmas ornaments, all of which are stored in a precise manner, so I am unable to help her take the ornaments off the tree.

Which is okay by me. I've been working on the user guide I mentioned yesterday, and I'm beginning to sense I'm not going to make my self-imposed deadline. Not, at least, without pulling one of those all-nighters that were so much easier in college days. Instead, I'm going to work on the guide for a little bit more, then stop. Later tonight I need to unwind for just a little while, so Jean and I are going to sit down and watch a movie together. That will be my weekend.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Spring term at Richmond. Aside from helping to put out any fires, I should be left alone all day. That gives me another whole day to focus on the guide. It will be tight, but I guess there's still a chance. I'm just tired from thinking and writing intensively about the database for two days now, and need a little time off.

Jean's been great. She did my laundry yesterday early so I wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend. She's just taken all the ornaments down, and is going to try to fix both the vacuum cleaners tonight, as well as finish washing all the baby's clothes. Hard to believe she's thirty six weeks pregnant (and it's not nesting energy that's pulling her through; she's been this way the entire pregnancy).

I've been trying to imagine the day, about three and a half weeks from now, when all of a sudden it happens: labor begins. We'll probably be in the middle of a day much like today when it will suddenly interrupt whatever our plans were. If labor begins with contractions, we'll probably have a good bit of time at home before we head for the hospital. We'll make calls to our families and work, and then we'll talk with each other while she relaxes (or tries to), waiting for things to progress.

Then everything will be different.

It was cold again today, which was nice after yesterday's more moderate temperatures. The sky was clear, though. Just as Jean started on the ornaments tonight, the sky outside was yellow as the sun set. The dark silhouettes of the trees against the bright sky was striking.

listening: Rites of Passage (Indigo Girls); Sunday in the Park with George (Original Cast); Back to Broadway (Barbra Streisand); Diva (Annie Lennox); Heart in Motion (Amy Grant)