Sometime in the middle of the night on Friday, I woke up to a weird rumbling sound along with something scratching somewhere in our bedroom. In my stupor, I also realized Russ was asking me "hey, are you moving the bed?"
Putting "scratching noise" with "shaking bed" I came to the logical conclusion that a huge animal was under our bed! (Too many years in cheap student housing in vermin-infested La Crosse, WI will do that to you.) When the shaking stopped, both from my panic and whatever caused it, I forced Russ to investigate the noise. He realized it was a picture frame tapping on the wall. Weird. So, maybe no animal. I joked that maybe it was an earthquake- hardy har. That was a hilarious 4 am joke, because we don't have earthquakes in Chicago!
Cut to 6:30 am. I had showered the night before so I was doing the awkward half-naked crab-walk pose over the side of the tub while I washed my hair in the faucet. Suddenly I hear the phone ringing and just as I'm adding conditioner I hear my Aunt saying "...the very scary news..." ACK! Who's calling this early? What's scary? Someone died! I run to the phone.
No one had died, it was my aunt telling me that we'd had an earthquake. Then she started telling me a story about some documentary she'd been watching, and I was nowhere near awake enough for that. At that point Josie spotted me from her crib and was jumping up and down yelling and wanting out. After 30 minutes I still hadn't even washed the conditioner out of my hair and I was late to work. Not off to a good start.
At noon my co-workers and I headed downtown for a luncheon we were hosting for museum donors. How wonderful, the bank was paying for the lunch. Too bad everything has meat in it. One bowl of pasta salad out of the 15 options-- this better be good, cause its all I can eat. Pesto pasta usually has nuts, so I ask a waiter if I'm okay to eat it. I am assured I will be fine.
Three-fourths of my way through my pile of pasta, and comfortably into our lecture on cosmic collisions, I spy a pine nut on my plate. Try not to panic. Is this garlic, or a pine nut? I've played this game before.
I discreetly sneak to the back of the room to ask another waiter as I notice my lips starting to puff. They confirm it is pine nuts- Jerks! Didn't we go over this before I started eating it! I go out to the hall to find my happy place. Hopefully relaxing will slow the reaction. I really don't feel like a trip to the emergency room today, especially when the room is full of people I have invited and am supposed to be schmoozing. After a while my voice has dropped and its hard to swallow, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse. Lucky for me, I think I'd managed to avoid eating an actual nut, and was just reacting to the oil.
So what is that all about? Could it be that I was, in fact, having the worst day ever? Or at least the weirdest day ever? To build my case further, should I add to the list the awkward large conference room bridal shower I was forced to attend later that day for the bitchy chick in another department that I never talk to? Should I also add that I got stuck in Cubs traffic on the way home and it took me an hour and 20 minutes to drive 10 miles? And that I really had to pee the whole time?
I made things better that night by taking to my bed and enjoying my benadryl induced nights sleep beginning at 7:30 pm. But I am determined to be positive. Because hey, when a day sucks that bad, things can only get better from there.
Cleaning Out the Cupboards
12 years ago

No comments:
Post a Comment