It was not a typical day

Many things went right yesterday. I traveled to Nashville — in and out in a day — and did a speech and a small group workshop. Both went great! My hosts were wonderful, and the participants were engaged. Travel there went smoothly, which was the part I was most anxious about. I had a lot of time to read during the day, and made it through about a quarter of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. I also listened to several podcasts, helpful for getting a sense of what works. I had a lovely Blue Moon in the Nashville airport when I wound up with more time there than I planned on (more on that in a minute). I got a short run in, so the streak lives.

Even something that could have been a problem wasn’t. I had agreed to do the Nashville gig a long time ago. In the intervening time, my 10-year-old requested to do a drama camp, and his musical performance wound up falling on Thursday evening. But he knew, going in, that I could not be there. My husband blocked off the time on his calendar so he definitely would be there. I heard all about the show when I got home, and saw some videos too.

Now, the things that did not go right, in no particular order: My 2-year-old, a drunk (?) guy on my plane to Nashville, Mike Pence, weather systems in Philly, and police action on I-95 at 10 p.m.

I will back up. The 2-year-old went on a sleep strike on Wednesday night. He didn’t want to go down at his usual 7:30/8 p.m. time, and I rocked him for longer, and he fussed for a bit, but finally he was quiet around 9 p.m. I got ready for bed, and got the other kids in bed, knowing I wanted to go to sleep early. I’d need to wake up around 5 a.m. Thursday to get a short run in (yep) before going to the airport. Then, around 10 p.m., my husband decided to try to move the 2-year-old, who had fallen asleep in front of his baby-proofed door (as he always does), to his crib.

He woke up screaming. He proceeded to fight sleep for the next 3 hours. We probably should have just let him scream it out, and we did try for 20-minute stretches, but I kept worrying it would wake up the other kids. At one point I decided to try to fall asleep with him on the extra bed in his room, but he was still agitated, and kept grabbing my hand to put at a certain spot on his belly (go figure why he likes that — it calms him down) but of course I couldn’t fall asleep with my arm at that angle.

He finally went down at 1:30 a.m. I kid you not. I was agitated myself, and slept pretty fitfully after that. I woke up on my own at 5 a.m., about five minutes before my alarm would have gone off.

I’m actually glad I got up and ran a mile on the treadmill. It only took an extra 15 minutes for changing, and running, and that 15 minutes may be responsible for me being functional in the morning. It woke me up as much as an extra cup of coffee. I went to the airport, where I learned that it was a good thing I have pre-check. The security lines were epic. Anyway, I got on my plane to Nashville. While we were in the waiting area, the gate agent asked if anyone needed more time to board, and some clearly not-disabled young man shouted “Me!” I looked, and he was with a group of friends. It was a bad sign. It was guys going to a bachelor party and either they were drunk at 8 a.m., or they were just naturally that obnoxious, because this went on for the WHOLE FLIGHT. Every 5 minutes, this one particular guy would yell so the whole plane could hear him. I know they were drinking on the plane because the flight attendant was hitting everyone else up for change (because of course he only had a $20 bill). I desperately wanted to sleep, and even with my headphones on I couldn’t because he was so loud. I realize this may say something about my personality, but I have a hard time controlling my temper in situations like this. A baby screaming on a plane can’t help it. This man wanted to ruin everyone else’s flight for his pleasure, just because. I do not understand it.

Anyway… I got to Nashville, and the speech went great. I was tired, but I had a few large coffees and made it through. I got back to the airport in time for my flight home, only to learn it had been delayed from 4:55 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. because there was going to be a ground stop. Mike Pence was flying into Nashville. He would be landing between 5 and 5:15, so everyone in the whole airport was just going to have to sit there.

I got my burger and beer. And then various weather issues in Philly and the Mike Pence delay kept pushing our flight back. We wound up leaving at 7 p.m. central time, 2 hours late.

By this time I was pretty fragged, having slept about 3 restless hours the night before. I took out my contacts and put on my glasses. I didn’t really manage to sleep on the flight back, but at least it was relatively smooth much of the time. I got my car, looked at the traffic, and saw that there was a blockage on I-76 through town due to construction. So, feeling all smart, I took I-95 to I-476 around the city (that’s my preferred route anyway). Unbeknownst to me, as I was pulling out of the garage, some police action happened on I-95, such that by the time I got to the ramp, it was completely jammed up. I also realized, when I couldn’t do anything about it, that my glasses prescription is clearly out of date. I could see, but not quite as well as I normally do, and given that I was already exhausted, it made the whole trip pretty miserable.

I made it home at 11 p.m. My 10-year-old (who was awake..hmm…) was so eager to tell me about his show, so I listened to him recount the whole thing. I watched the video clips. Then I collapsed into bed…

….only to have the 2-year-old start screaming at midnight. Up again.

 

 

7 thoughts on “It was not a typical day

  1. Before I found you, Laura, I started calling those kinds of days “a day that wouldn’t make the movie”… I think I was sleep-deprived, sitting in my car in a fast food restaurant parking lot, scarfing down lunch while I pumped during a conference call on a quick “break” driving from a team at one client to check in with a team at another client, all the while wondering if the baby coughing that kept me up had evolved into the dreaded “send them home for at least 24 hours” fever. I laughed to myself and thought that if someone ever made a movie of my life, the director would probably decide some days just couldn’t be like they were in my memory and that no one would believe the day as I recounted it. And THAT would be one of those that just “didn’t make the movie”. While there have been plenty of those days since –
    and will be more! – I found your work and now know to look at THAT day as just one of the seven that week!

    1. @Karissa- I guess it depends what kind of movie! If it’s that Sarah Jessica Parker I Don’t Know How She Does It type movie, that scene totally would have made it. It’s funny where we find to pump, right? Fast food parking lots…

  2. Dag, that was one dang awful day.
    Your issues with your little one not sleeping remind me of the last 2 weeks…my husband had the grand idea of taking the sides off of my 23 month old’s crib.(He said he was ready????comparing him to my daughter who was about 2 when we took the rails down) Unfortunately, every night he’d fall off to sleep and end up falling out of bed and ending up walking in our room(which scares the heck out of me-door creeping open) This went on almost every night or so and of course I was the one loosing all the sleep! Long story short.. I found his tool bag and put the rails right back up!!!

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