This is one half of this month's On Display Collaboration: A Day in the Life of On Display. The other half was completed in an entry on January 16.
Friday night after work, Jean and I went out for dinner at Angela's. After a filling dinner, we went to the video store to pick out a video to watch this weekend. When we got home, Jean was having contractions. The contractions were not quite regular, but they were painful – a change from what she's experienced so far. She tried relaxing, with her feet up. We watched The Princess Bride. About halfway through the movie, Jean said she really didn't feel good and wanted to go to bed.
We climbed into bed, not knowing whether we'd be waking up in a few hours to go to the hospital. It was a rough night, but by morning Jean was feeling better. We awoke, committed to take it easy this weekend.
After a late breakfast, I have settled in at my computer. I quickly catch up with the news through NPR and the New York Times. The Richmond paper (which will remain nameless), is never worth the effort: they seem to carry little national news and their editorials are immature personal attacks against whatever they don't like. It's embarrassing.
After a few minutes of surfing, I decide to check in on Jean. She's on the bed. She's fine, but tired, and trying to take the day quietly and slowly. I join her, and we talk for more than an hour before drifting off to sleep...
I'm doing the dishes from breakfast and lunch. We don't have a dishwasher, so the sink is full of bubbles. As I wash each plate or glass, I place it strategically on the wooden drying rack. If I don't get it right, not everything will fit on the little rack.
Jean is off working (gently) on the laundry. We've gotten a phone call that the woman who owns the house wants to come by tomorrow with a new real estate agent (she's selling the house). We really wish she weren't selling the place, since it means we're going to have to move this Spring (we're not waiting for her to sell the house).
Zero and Maestro and I are kicking bug butt! We've just entered the Lyten system, and the aliens are swarming. My ship is fast and the bugs don't seem to be able to catch me. I'm launching missiles as quickly as my ship can target. I don't even take the time to taunt the stupid bugs. I can hear Zero over the chatter, "I'm gonna miss you, bug!"
We reach Lyten station, but it's destroyed by a missile before we can target the first alien ship. Crap. That's going to make it tougher to get out of Lyten and into Proxima.
I kill a few more waves of bugs, then take a leave of absence to see how well Jean is sleeping in the other room.
I get home and bring the first two bags of groceries inside. As I put the them down on the kitchen counter, Jean informs me that her chicken has expired and is now in the trash. This chicken was the centerpiece of a dinner Jean wants to make then freeze. Once the baby's here, I can quickly microwave the nasty chicken meal, and Jean's got dinner. If Jean doesn't get the meal made, she's in for nights of my cooking and Papa John's.
I bring in the second two bags, get in the car, and drive back to Ukrop's to buy chicken.
The moon is round. Tomorrow night is the full moon, a blue moon. They say that more women seem to go into labor under the full moon. I wonder...
news: The painful contractions from Friday night stopped. Jean is still having occasional painless contractions, but says she feels that after Friday night, the birth seems like it's going to happen sooner than later.
© 1999 Kevin J.T. Creamer