Quiet day ....

.... mostly.

Yes, it's spring break but it's been on the quiet side .... even with two teenage boys in the house.  They seem to come and go so much that there's not much time for noise here.

Who'd have ever thought that noise could be missed?

Ahhhhhh ..... it is.

     So first thing this morning I let Gabby outside and saw that I needed to re-fill her water dish.  Thinking that I'd love to hop over the puddles, and not get my socks wet, I decided to make a dash, while hopping, for the water dish.

     Yes .... it would seem that I forgot ..... for only a nano-second ..... that this might be a problem.

Mid-leap my left hip let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard around the block.  I'm surprised the neighbors did not come running.  OK, I'm not really surprised by that at all, but that's another blog.

     Anyway, I kept hopping and dashing and STILL got my socks muddy ...... DAD-GUMMIT!!!!

And then sat in a recliner doing Lamaze breathing for about half an hour.  

Labor must be like riding a bike --- you never forget.

It --- and the breathing --- all came back.  

     And actually, the breathing did about as well for me today as it did through all 6 births .... NOT MUCH!!!  

As an aside .... if I were Mr. Lamaze (I'm only assuming it's a mister because it's usually men who come up with things that they THINK will work for child birth .... ironic, no?) .... I'd be a bit embarrassed to have a method named after me.  Well, at least THIS puny method.  

But heck, if I came up with the "hit her in the head with a hammer and wake her when the potty training is done" method .... I'd be quite proud to have that bear my name!

Where was I?  

Oh yes ..... trying to breathe through the pain.  Whatever.

     When the pain finally became a dull roar I loaded the boys in the car and ran a couple of errands.  The worst of these errands was going to our local post office to re-new their passports.

     Now let me just say ........ I don't know how things work in your city/town/village ..... but here in our lovely community ..... it would appear that one must pass a test to prove how slowly one can move before being hired to work at the post office.  No lie.  If you don't believe me .... read the comments that will now ensue.

     Anywho ....... it would seem that there is only one person at our USPO who can "do" passports.  The sons and I were there for over an hour.  My hip was screaming very, very loudly at the end of standing for that hour.

     And while I'd love to just leave you with the thought of our slower-than-my-daughters-cleaning-their-room (trust me) post office ...... I do have to admit that there was a very bright spot.  

     Her name is Kerry.  She was the person who handled passports.  And while she was slow ..... as she evidently had to be to get the job ..... she made my day.

     She did this by not sending me home after I'd waited for an hour in line because I had not filled in my sons' SS numbers ..... and I did not have them with me (didn't think I'd need them because it was a renewal and you don't have to bring them if you have the original passport).  You don't need the actual card, but you do need to have the number.  I did not.

But instead of sending me home to go get the info and then come back ..... and wait again ..... (and trust me, every other person who works there would have TOTALLY made me do that), Kerry took out a piece of paper, wrote her cell phone number on it and told me to call her with their numbers when I got home.

I KNOW!!!!??!!!!!

Kerry rocks!

     So if you live in my lovely community and go visit our lovely, yet oh-so-slow post office, please smile at Kerry and tell her that's she very much appreciated ..... and wish her a nice day.

     As soon as we got in the car I downed two pain pills (yes .... I know ..... but don't even go there),  got the boys' lunch at MickeyD's drive-through and went home.  

     I thought that if I just gave my hip the rest and respect that it deserves it would stop yelling.

It did stop yelling ...... and just sort of murmured annoyingly at me for the rest of the afternoon.

So I met some friends for dinner ..... a very nice time ...... we haven't gone out for quite a while so it was great to re-connect.

And then I went to off to lead the Grief Share group for a couple of hours.

And then came home.

And now I can't believe that YOU cannot hear my hip.  

If I could smother it ....... I would.

     I find it amazing that as I started to write this post .... I thought I had absolutely nothing of interest to write.  I thought it had been a quiet (see above) and rather dull day.

I thought wrong.