We didn’t really do much up north that we couldn’t have done in GR (except maybe buy me dress boots for $26, woot!), but it was nice to get away to someplace else. We had uninterrupted talks and daydreams in the car, dinner out, a little jacuzzi time, and of course a couple episodes of LOST. And that equals relaxation, found.

The good news is that he has Monday and Tuesday off and we are going to try to find something fun to do this weekend, kid-free. Ideas?

• Work is good but busy.
• Commuting is much better when it’s not snowing and now that it’s getting light out earlier. That said, we’re getting a snowstorm tonight. Again.
• Our weekends tend to be lazy yet fly by. They often sneak up on us before we can make any plans, but it is so, so nice to not have to work (I have worked a little a few weekends but swore it off completely for Lent). Two weeks ago we went out and brunched hard, just the three of us, just because we could.
• We have started watching Lost. We cannot stop watching Lost. We are addicted to watching Lost. We are just about to start season 2, so we have only 50 or 60 hours of television to catch up on before the series finale. We are confident in our ability to be this lazy (see above re: weekends) so NO SPOILERS, people.
• I have started getting together with the other wives of Aaron’s “Jedi Council” seminary posse. We are the Sacred Sisters…of the Traveling…Husbands…or something. We just hang out one night a week with no agenda other than to find out what’s going on with each other, pray, and breathe in the sweet sweet air of a quiet, comfy home that’s not littered with plastic kid junk, sippy cups, and wet mittens. I think it has been just what we all needed. Why should our husbands have all the fun–and all the support? I am getting to know people at work at church, but it’s hard to get involved in anything with them or coordinate much to see old friends, even though in theory we are not that far from GR. So it’s good to have these friends who are going through a lot of the same things and who live right here by us.
• Aaron preached at our church for the first time today and he did great! He didn’t even seem nervous (you’ll have to ask him if he secretly was). He preached a number of times at our church in Oregon and has given countless Young Life and youth group talks, but it’s always more pressure the first time in a new place, I think, and our church here is bigger. He didn’t shy from the challenge, though, but took on a crazy hard passage and brought it home strong. Even if he did skip an entire page of his notes! Must be the power of the fauxhawk.

The difference between this plan and the one we were so graciously allowed to go to great lengths to obtain and pay for is stunning. I didn’t mention it here because it gets into a lot of TMI territory, but my husband had a health issue come up last month that he had to get checked out with a CT scan and then a test they had to knock him out for at the hospital. On top of lingering bills from the finger smashing incident, I have a bill from the CT scan for $927. I am sure the hospital bill will be a doozy. I fully expect that what we pay out of pocket (let alone the premium) for this one month under our individual policy will be less than our out of pocket maximum for the entire year under my work plan.

Which reminds me, I have to call my elected representatives and give them a hard time. It’s been a while. They miss me. (Especially Pete.)

Because even though we are now safely ensconced in a group plan, I am not forgetting about health care reform. I am not giving up. I am not willing to wait.

Because it could be me again that needs it. It could be you. It is me and you, because my company has been struggling to deal with the ever-rising costs, and I bet you have been choking on the costs too–even if you don’t see the numbers to realize that’s where the profits went, that’s where the raises went, that’s where the donations and the tithes went, that’s where the taxes went.

Right now I feel more safe but not satisfied. Why should I feel good because I now have what others don’t? Should I just forget what it’s like to dread opening those bills just because I now have a Flex account? Should I just pretend it’s suddenly not that urgent because it’s momentarily not that urgent for me?

No. I can’t, and I won’t. The world isn’t fixed when I’m doing okay and messed up when I’m not. I refuse to let my sense of personal customer satisfaction be the only barometer for what I think this country should do for its people, because I’m far from the least of these, even on my worst day. We never had it that bad, not even when we were most scared and most frustrated; we only got a taste of the helplessness and injustice many have felt trying to battle both disease and insurance at once. But it was enough of a taste to make me say enough is enough. It’s enough to make me keep fighting.

Let’s do this thing, America. Our future needs it, starting now.

Kidding aside, I really figured I’d be happy with basic survival skills this month–if I got to work every day and everybody in the house found something to eat three times at least once a day, we’d be doing pretty good. I guess I’m exceeding my low expectations since I’ve yet to oversleep or resort to takeout for dinner and I did get the Christmas decorations down today before the clock ran out on January.

This complete change in routine has forced me to be more organized as far as meals and to go back to getting shopping, laundry, hair braiding, and the like done on weekends instead of whenever I felt like it. I’m actually pretty proud of myself for doing as well as I have so far. And now that I’ve said this, I’m set me up for a major domestic fail of some sort, I’m sure.

And now that I’ve been satisfied by discovering Bon Jovi gracing my TV to make up for the Pro Bowl (football nerd alert!) being mysteriously absent, I need to get my getting-up-early booty to bed. Livin’ on a prayer . . . and coffee.

Go figure, I think I like it too. Yes, the days start early and the drive is long, and sometimes I sit at my desk in my cold office for so long that my pulse slows to roughly 40 bpm and I have to take coffee via IV to get going again. But on the other hand, I don’t have to repeat simple requests seventeen times in a row seven thousand times a day or help wipe any part of any other person’s body.

At work my office has a door and a huge stash of snacks and no Mr. Potato Head parts on the floor. Sometimes there are coffee runs or people stopping to say hi. And I get to have LIVE, INTELLIGENT CONVERSATIONS with actual, mature, ADULT HUMAN BEINGS.

For example, last week I got to spend an hour with two others comparing ideas and opinions on designs for a major project. I love that kind of thing. People think that editors must be quiet, shy introverts, but I am a collaborative person and I think actually an extrovert. Those conversations and connections to the bigger picture give me the energy to go back and do the focused solo work. I did miss that sometimes as a freelancer. (Of course, there is also the imposing wall of deadlines looming over me to keep me focused. Yikes!)

I have my morning routine down pretty well and was just able to simplify our daycare/grandmacare schedule. AJ is doing great with the new routine, although she was happy to spend Saturday at home just lazing around in her pajamas and then ballerina outfit. Me too. (Well, minus the tutu.) I did feel like I should have been working on the weekend, since that was when I got a lot of my freelance work done, but it is nice that now when I’m off, I’m really off–no choice, no guilt.

Today was the first day of Aaron’s new semester, so we’ll soon see how his weeks flow and how all this goes with him juggling a ton as well.

Time to go juggle some chili into my crock pot.