Sunday morning we said goodbye to Jean's family and headed back to Richmond. I still don't believe it's been seven years since I last set foot in Ginger's house, but so much has happened in these last few years, I guess the time really has flown by.
Our trip home was a little easier than our trip down. The trees on the sides of the road were still bent over, thick with ice, but the Virginia DOT had managed to clear the highway of any debris. We also had the advantage of full daylight, unlike our twilight trip two nights before.
When we got home, we - make that I (we're cutting back on Jean lifting things these days) - unloaded the luggage and shower presents from the car. We both had lots of stuff to do to prepare for the coming week, especially now that it was likely that Carol, Terry, Holly, Nicky, Tracy and Andy were going to be paying us another visit on Monday night. For some reason, we both gravitated towards the baby's room. After kicking around for a few moments, we decided to take all the tags off the baby clothes and open all the baby accessories - essentially preparing the room for Bumpy.
I had the best time! I don't know exactly what it was, but when all the bottles, all the outfits, all the rattles and so on were in their packaging, it was as if we were still a long way from the baby entering our lives. Opening everything and deciding where it all goes somehow reinforced that in just thirty nine days (or somewhere thereabouts), everything changes forever.
I was surprised that we managed to fill all of the drawers in both bureaus, though some of the items won't be used for months. All of Bumpy's things are so small I didn't expect them to fill up seven drawers and part of a toy chest.
The room is pretty much ready now, except for the rocking chair we're going to buy in the next week or so and a shelf we want to hang above the changing pad on the smaller bureau. The room looks so nice and inviting in the mornings and early afternoons when the sunlight streams in either one of the two windows in the room. It's easy now to imagine the hours I'll be spending in there with my daughter.
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer