It’s way too early when the alarm goes off, but I am able to roll over and fall immediately back to sleep for 45 seconds until I hear…BEEP-BEEP-BEEP…"98.4 today!" Chief scampers out of bed amazingly without hitting the snooze button repeatedly, as usual.
The sun is blazing through the 10’ x 5’ windows on the east end of our shotgun warehouse loft. I cannot fall back asleep but I sprawl diagonally across the mattress as I hear meticulous typing for the next five, ten, or fifteen minutes. Chief has wasted no time in checking her Fa.cebook account and blogs for some important and seemingly imminent news. She knows she needs to hop in the shower and get ready for work, but her bosom blogger buddies suck her in for a few extra minutes.
Finally, I get up; its not even 8 and I can do nothing but roll my eyes and think, “Who gets up before 8 o’clock?”Before I awoke I was having a riotous dream, which I cannot wait to tell Chief. She’s in the shower and is in no mood to hear my off-the-wall, stranger than anything you can think of consciously, dream. I tell her anyways, at least the parts I know she can handle; this morning I had a doozy!
As if to respond to my unsolicited share and tell, she uses all the hot water. It's no problem though I know every woman has needs, and if lots of hot water in the morning is all I have to deal with, I am going to roll with the punches. I sit down and watch some Mike and Mike in the Morning; after all if she can wake me up (way too early) with a temperature and blogging, I deserve some sports along with my Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Chief tries four different outfits before she finds one that works, and without fail makes some comment about how she doesn’t have any clothes. By the time she refuses all of my advances and picks the winning outfit I have had time for a lukewarm shower and am back to my show. Invariably she asks, “Are you going to drive me to work today?” This morning I reply, "Why don’t we walk, it's beautiful out?”
So, I pack up my stuff in a hurry so I won’t make her wait – one of the best things I learned growing up was to never make a woman wait for you – but sure enough it is I who waits for her while she makes her breakfast…I can’t help but think what on earth was she doing for the last ten minutes? Probably changing her sweater.
I tie my shoes in the elevator as we leave our loft together. As she holds my coat I find myself thinking how wonderful life is to walk to work together.
The air is crisp and it smells like rain is on the way. At least the Chinook wind from yesterday seems to have dissipated. We walk across the square and see one of the famous white squirrels. This morning I feel uninhibited, so we hold hands. I walk with her to the front of her building, all the while trying to tell her more about my ridiculous dream that includes someone I knew when I was fifteen, my sister Laura, Mancini, a dragon, four scooters that seem to be alive, a hot belly dancer and a softball game that I seem to be managing, umpping and playing in, all in a set of pink overalls. Somehow in the dream it all made sense. I can sense in Chief’s mind she is thinking, “At least he didn’t sing this morning.”
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We arrive in front of Boswor.th and she looks at me with her lips puckered together. I get that look on my face that she tells me I get and then I scan the surroundings for students, okay, for players. We are in the clear so I kiss her on each cheek. She scowls and says, “Just for that I am going to give you a wet one!” Secretly I was hoping she would. And she does. I see a shadowy figure up in the window on the third floor and he tips his cap to me…this is going to be a good day!I walk another five minutes across the north quad to the back door of Philips. Its barely 9:00am and I even beat Kik.i and Brenda in this morning…nobody else will be here for hours.
I am working on mailings, juniors, and summer camps. But really the key is trying to figure out how to convince the following kids to join our program. This year we recorded a record number of admits (16). They are from:
Declo, Idaho
Columbus, Ohio
Bartlett, Illinois
Cary, North Carolina
Castleton, New York
Brawley, California
Missouri City, Texas
Los Angeles, California
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Lindenhurst, Illinois
Saratoga Springs, New York
Boulder, Colorado
Knoxville, Tennessee
San Antonio, Texas
Stuart, Florida
Lambertville, New Jersey
What an awesome list. A veritable geographers dream. Now, please come; we want you! ...if only it were that easy.
Chief is planning her next trip to New Jersey, or is it going to be Chicago, or Atlanta? St. Louis? I cannot keep track of them. At 11:04am I call her and say, “how about lunch?”
She replies with, “meet me at 12.” Without fail I say, “how about a little earlier, I am pretty hungry.”
“Ok. 11:55.” What a poo. She probably learned that trick from me though, so I suppose I cannot be too upset.
Four coaches come to talk to me between 11:35 and 11:50 – my peers are finally at work! I run to meet Chief and get there at 11:57, thankfully she is enjoying the sunshine on her soft creamy skin. Oh, and the outfit she finally settled on is smokin'!
The stroll home is too fast and lunch is a series of leftovers from her food exchange - The Fearless Foodies. It’s a one out of two this week, but we didn’t have to cook, so I always count that as a win! Chief takes a little nap and I do a quick clean up. We both do love a clean apartment, although right now things are a little chaotic.
Our lunch was leisurely and once again I pinch myself at the nature of getting to see my lovely wife on my lunch break. On the way back to work we run into Kay and Chief goes the rest of the way with her.
During the afternoon, we both roll ahead on some projects. Chief gets her wine event in Chicago organized and ready to go, while Snicks sends emails out to ten college coaches and wraps up his stats project for softball.
I am ready to go home at about 3:30. After all it’s the spring and I spend all kinds of time working nights and weekends during the season. I figure I can play Wii for about 30 minutes before there is any chance at Chief arriving at home. I was right.
At 5:07 she walks in the door and says let’s eat! Yep we are so cosmopolitan that our dinner usually ends before some people eat lunch in New York City. We vent about our days briefly, but I can tell she is in the mood for something good…
We decide to do some research into our next trip. She is rooting hard for Rio de Janeiro.
I am pulling for Prague, Czech Republic. 
She reminds me that I am going to Austria, Slovenia, and Italy for basketball in just a few weeks. 
With dueling computers we look into hotels, cruises, timeshares, and apartments in various cities and countries that span the globe. It’s been hours and while we have barely looked at each other we are having so much fun. We want something that will emulate Trinidad & Tobago, but where Chief can actually relax. She keeps coming back to Brazil. Perhaps its because her R.otary club just hosted five visitors from the fifth largest country in the world? She is relentless.Nothing is settled, but one thing is for sure, she wants to go to Brazil. I found a couple other deals and she found an interesting trip to Peru. We are a long way from finished, but seeing the pictures makes us hungry for an adventure.
Its 8:47 pm, and its raining. Chief tries to coerce me into bed. No, not in that way, I know better after 6:30pm. She is ready to crash, and for some reason I am amazed. After she disappears for a few minutes I hear, “Are you going to tuck me in?”
There are few words that will get me moving faster than those. I make the 50-yard dash to the bedroom where she gives me the most adorable, pouty, puppy eyes and says, “Are you coming to bed?”
After a good laugh I remind her that it is barely 9:00pm and Biggest Loser is just beginning its second hour. She nestles under the covers, which she will undoubtedly confiscate in the middle of the night. Somehow she and I carry on almost a ten-minute conversation that encompasses my locking the front door, the baking of microwave nachos so I don’t go to bed hungry and a trio of tries by Chief to get me to change my mind and cuddle up with her. I remind her that now it is only 9:14pm. Finally, I give her one final peck on the cheek and a pat on the backside and before she knows it the raindrops have helped her slip off to sleep.
I spend the next couple of hours between productivity and vegetation. The baseball game is on a rain delay and who really cares about the first round of the NBA playoffs (even if you are a college basketball coach)? I do take time to appreciate what the day has brought and more importantly whom I had to share it with.
This is all in one day. This day was today.
so sweet!
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