The Comeback Trail

It feels as though maybe, possibly, circumstances of this uncertain universe being what they are, my household might be on the verge of turning the corner on getting back to something sort of like normal. But don’t hold me to that.

There had been a very minor glitch in the final installation of our new hardwood floors, which I think I failed to mention hereabouts. Specifically the floor in the area right in front of the dishwasher was cut in such a way that the dishwasher door could only be opened about 40 degrees, a problem which my wife solved by detaching the dishwasher’s front kickplate and setting it aside and asking me to get the workers out to our house one more time. A rep did come to the house this morning and found that, actually, the crew had simply re-installed the kickplate upside down as they finished up the job, so he attached it right side up and demonstrated that the door did in fact open and close freely, and then he went on his merry way. So the whole new floors adventure is finally, totally a done deal.

The kids also seem to be mended, as close to 100% healthy as they’re likely to get during cold and flu season (and with my inherently flawed respiratory system as a component of their genetic heritage), so we’re anticipating that they’ll both be back in daycare as of tomorrow. Not that this means a great deal one way or the other to our infant daughter, but it’ll be nice for the little guy to slot back into his customary routine.


Yesterday was my mother’s birthday, and a week from yesterday will be my very Little Bro’s birthday, thus concluding the insane stretch from early September to mid-October that encompasses both my brothers’ birthdays, my son’s, my mom’s and my own. And as much as I love my family and love birthdays, it always comes as something of a relief to get past the point of constant gift-ordering, card-sending, and well-wish responding as summer turns to fall.

My wife’s work schedule has been a bit askew, and that actually continues tonight as she has a mandatory dinner to attend. On the up side, the dinner will satisfy part of her necessary Continuing Education requirement for the year, but she worked late Tuesday and Wednesday night, is going to be gone for about four hours tonight, and will be working late tomorrow night as well. It’s rare that we go four consecutive nights without at least being able to have dinner together, and we’re grateful for that when it holds true and a little put out when an anomalous string of nights like this crops up. But, again, after this stretch we should be back to the normal schedule.

And then finally, of course, there’s the deciding Game 5 of the ALDS tonight, at which point either the Yankees will advance to the Championship round or the baseball season will effectively end for me. So it’s probably just as well that my wife has an unavoidable professional reason to be out of the house tonight, and it is a similarly good thing that the first pitch is after the kids’ bedtime (well, the little girl still has many bedtimes throughout the night, but shares one with her brother, at least) so that I can pace around the den hyperventilating on my own. One way or the other, though, there’s a new phase about to begin. Probably? It really could go either way.