Nat

This is two topics, but I can’t decide between them, and I need to write about them both. The negative one first.

The last three days, I’ve crammed in an insane amount of activity. All of it was things I wanted to do, for myself, my family, my friends. Last night, the result was that I stayed up until 2 on a work night. Tomorrow I have training at 6:30, which means leaving the house at 5:30, so I’ll be tired again.

This is the only part of my adult life I find really demoralizing again and again: I would like not to feel so frantic about all that I have to do. I would like to do fewer things and get to bed earlier.

Still, they were all great things. I watched my stepdaughter and her band win a medal. I am commenting on a friend’s manuscript. I’m commenting on another friend’s blog. For my writer friends I would take on any small thing. They are busy, and they are determined, and I love what they are writing. Admiration has always motivated me. It is a great thrill to be in the company of other writers.

Now for the positive part of the post–gift giving. By coincidence, my wife didn’t have cases today. So she was able to go to the grocery store after dropping off my stepdaughter at school and buy a huge sheet cake to celebrate their band victory yesterday.

My wife took the cake to the school and left it for the band director, Mr. Farmer. Because he had given the band the day off from rehearsal, they all had time to eat the cake and drink some sparkling cider. Apparently they got a big kick out of the cake. My wife is a master gift giver. She always knows when and what to give. It makes all of us feel special. Her knowledge of what we want and need makes us feel studied and appreciated by her.

I love her for it, and I love the gifts she picks out. Tomorrow I’ll write about the quilt she gave me.