So Far, So Good

Inspirational song: Getting to Know You (The King and I)

We have spent a solid 36 hours getting settled. Yesterday I cleaned out the refrigerator of everything that was past its expiration date or nearly used up. Today we took XS around every inch of Costco, negotiating how to keep a teenager well-fed in a strictly gluten-free house that she isn’t used to. I think we are set, so no one will feel deprived. The fridge is now stuffed, and I haven’t heard a peep of complaint. We are all good.

I was exhausted by the time we left Costco, and had just enough time to get back to town for my bonus massage. (I try to get a second one in a month, at a discounted rate, once a quarter if possible.) I was such a zombie, I didn’t even recognize that the person who walked in behind me was Slow Hand, the therapist I have been seeing monthly for two and a half years. We were in the room, 30 minutes later, before he said, “You held the door for me.” By the last half of a long massage, I had gone from tense and locked up to so relaxed that I slipped into alpha waves and dreamed three or four times. I’m so lucky to have someone who knows me so well that I can relax and let him work while I sleep, and I have absolute faith and trust that he’ll get the sore spots without being told.

XS and I have spent the evening at home. I offered to drive her somewhere, but most of her friends are still out of town for spring break. We just sat around and talked, about anything and everything. I repeated what I told her before, that I have few demands of her. She’s a teenager on what could be the best, most meaningful year of her youth. Her job is to study and learn, and as my grandmother’s mentor would have said, there are more places in this world to learn than inside a school building. She needs to explore and have the freedom to do so. My job is to provide that, plus the safe home base to explore from.

(No pictures today. I tried to take a photo of the new rock chip on my car windshield on the way to Costco, but it looked like a blurry airplane in the picture. I was too involved with other stuff for photos.)