“Do you have a ‘porta-potty’ in the car?”
I remember those days as if they were a… well, something between a dream and a nightmare. The girl I overheard and her husband were meeting with a realtor to look at homes in our neighborhood. It was very cute… that freshness of starting out and having such big changes ahead of them. What a joy pregnancy is, huh? I mean, I know for some people it is… for example the girl in my labor class who didn’t want to stop being so connected to her ‘little buddy’. But for most of us I think it is more like fighting through a wind and rain and ice storm but knowing there is hot chocolate on the other end. Of course the hot chocolate turns out to be so hot it scalds out mouths… but while we are in the midst of the freezing storm that is not what we are thinking about. All we can hold onto is the thought that at some point we will, again, be warm. Mine wasn’t the worst pregnancy ever. I can acknowledge, even bow down to, the poor women who carry twins… or are sick the entire time…or end up in preterm labor and struggle to hold onto the baby. These, obviously, are the most difficult situations. But I, like I think most women, had the normal amount of angst; all-day sickness (who ever thought to call is morning, anyway?), aching hips and back, sleepless nights, swollen feet and hands… and they wonder why we want birth control? It is an exercise in acceptance and mindfulness; a chance to practice the very skills that we will need as moms! And the thing is… it does end, and for the most part we forget the really awful parts and remember the way the baby kicked, or the first time we find out the gender or hear their little heart beating on the ultrasound, or find the perfect nursery set and watch our husband set up the crib knowing this is a right of passage along the lines of a tribal first hunt. We forget, that is, until we get the stomach flu and think, oh yeah… I remember why I am not going there again; or until we overhear a young girl, waddling through Starbucks, drinking her green tea while longing for coffee, and hoping she doesn’t pee in the back seat of her realtor’s car.
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“Just checking in to see how your squirrel problem is doing. Give me a call to let me know if you’ve heard any more from them. BEEP.”
Now I know why the squirrels were running away from the pest person a few weeks ago (see previous blog) … apparently word gets around in the squirrel community that this is the guy to watch out for. He must be like the squirrel whisperer or something because even the ones in the backyard won’t come anywhere near the house anymore. It is driving our dog crazy. The squirrels now sit on the back fences, staring longingly at the house, and don’t even blink when Summer, our dog, barks at them. I think perhaps they are waiting to see if the pest guy will come back, but it is hard to tell what goes on in the manipulative little mind of squirrels. As much as they bother our dog, however, I am glad that they have not moved back in next door (we seem to be trading the same squirrel family back and forth, like a cup of sugar). I am glad of this for two reasons….One, because I am a good neighbor and don’t like anyone to have to deal with the little rodents…. But two, because the neighbors seem to play a lot of violent computer games and I don’t want the squirrels getting any ideas. I am pretty sure, if all our neighborhood squirrels ganged up on us, we’d be toast. The winter has been very mild here and you should see how fat they have become. They’ve got some serious bulk that we’d have to contend with. So, I’m off now to return the squirrel whisperer’s phone message. Even though I haven’t heard any scampering around, I think it’s time we made sure that the squirrels knew the pest guy was still on the lookout. |
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June 2020
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