Old Friends

Last week I got together with my friend Dana for dinner. I was so excited, we hadn't seen each other for months and had a lot of catching up to do. This last year I've been busy with work and Anna, she's been busy with work and her divorce. I'm thrilled for her, she's now dating a guy who makes her happy and treats her well. What more could I want for my friend?

Dana is one of a couple friends of mine who have divorced during the time that I've known them. It wasn't a surprise to anyone when her marriage ended, I'm sure all of her friends were happy for her when she finally decided she'd had enough. I know I was. Isn't that sad? She'd been committed to her marriage and tried to do all she could for that relationship, and spent many years hoping things would turn around but they never really did. A person can only give in and sacrifice so much before they realize the relationship they are trying to "save" isn't worthwhile saving in the first place.

I went to the movie "The Queen" on Sunday, I couldn't believe it was still playing at the Edina theater but it was. Lucky me. Helen Mirren was excellent, as expected. I can't help but be caught up with royalty, and though I found it very sad when Princess Diana died I think it's silly when people rank the day of her death up there with presidential assassinations and wars when considering important dates in history. Oh please. It was an unfortunate car accident which happened to kill a woman who tried to use her celebrity to do good, which is a loss definitely but in my mind not equal to JFK being assassinated, for example. Now that several years have passed people seem to have a better perspective. I'm just disappointed that in addition to all of the more obvious bunglings of his presidency, GWB has brought Tony Blair down with him as well. Sigh!

I've felt a little less overwhelmed lately, I'm sure a lot of it has to do with Anna (and me) sleeping through the night again. I can get by a day or two with less rest than usual, but longer than that just wears me down. Anna had her cough for close to two weeks, so that was a long haul. She now seems to be teething but I have no hesitation giving her baby tylenol or ibuprofin as needed so we should be able to keep her pain under control.

In general it's been all the little tasks I can't always get to which frustrate me. But then again, when I do accomplish one of these tasks it's funny how invigorated I feel to tackle more. For example, last weekend I finally took the lower drawer from Anna's dresser back to Baby Depot. It has never worked right, which drove me crazy because that dresser cost a lot of money compared to others we considered. I wasn't sure what Baby Depot would be able to do about it, we no longer had our receipts and I wasn't sure if they would even carry the dresser any more. Well, they did have the same dresser on the sales floor and once I explained our situation the guy who helped me had the idea of checking their damaged merchandise, found the exact same drawer in good working condition, and just gave it to me, no questions asked. I was giddy for the rest of the night, I couldn't believe my luck. I think I'm still a little giddy from how it all worked out.

Thank goodness for these little moments of triumph which get me through!