Jean and I are in the dining room. She's sitting at the table, getting a deposit together. I'm on the floor in a life-and-death wrestling match with the dogs. I'm winning.
Jean goes into the other room for a minute, then returns. She's ready to head out for the bank. I stop wrestling, surprised that she's ready to go so soon.
She's going to go to the bank, then she'll come home and start cleaning.
"I don't want you cleaning," I insist. "I don't want you to have a sore back today. You can either take it easy here or you could go to your office and work there. At least you'll be sitting down."
"You can't clean everything. You don't even know where to put my laundry."
"You could tell me where it goes…" I offer weakly. She wins.
Jean heads out to the bank, and I start picking up around the house, hoping to eliminate most of the work she'd been planning to do. The dogs are still following me, perhaps waiting for a rematch. As I'm putting away this morning's cereal boxes, I cleverly open the box of Milk Bones and stuff a few into my pants pocket. As I turn I realize I'm not half as clever as I thought I was: both Neon and Pasta are sitting on the floor at my feet in their ultra-attentive "you've-got-yummies!" mode. I attempt to deflect their interest by carrying the dishes into the kitchen. Just before I start washing the dishes in the sink, I toss each of them a treat. Pasta nabs the flying Milk Bone in mid-air. Neon, stunned by his brother's quick moves (and his loss), misses the fact that he's got incoming. His yummy hits the floor, but he manages to get it before Pasta moves in.
I go back to doing the dishes, and the dogs take strategic positions on the kitchen floor. There's much to do today before Jean and I go out for our belated Christmas Eve dinner at the Tobacco Company.
(Today's entry is part of the January On Display Collaboration: A Day in the Life of On Display. There's another part, which will appear later in the month.)
A clear day, and not too cold. When Jean and I finally went to Shockoe Slip for our Christmas Eve dinner, she used a coat, but I was okay in just my suit. Dinner was great, and on the way out of the Tobacco Company we came across "The Flower Lady". I bought Jean a half dozen yellow roses (yellow is our favorite color).
listening: Spinner.com
reading: The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year (Armin A. Brott)
© 1999 Kevin J.T. Creamer