This Lenting thing of being in bed by 1:00 am is being sabatoged almost every night. For one thing, I can't believe how many sirens I hear between midnight and 1 am. I know I live close to the firehall, hospital and police station, but I can't remember hearing them so consistenly before.
Anyway, last night I was in bed before midnight. And asleep well before my curfew. As I drifted off I thought to myself, "I am going to be SO full of energy tomorrow. And I'll have bagless eyes. Bonus."
And then, at 3:31 am I woke up with a distended stomach and a vaguely familiar ache in my top rib. It took me awhile to go through the list of possible ailments but at 3:34 I realized it was that gastritis thing. I still had pills leftover from my last bout with it, so I hunted them down and swallowed one without the benefit of a sip of water. Remembering that the clinic doc recommened I take some Tums as soon as the discomfort rears it's head, I took the house apart looking for any fruit flavored antacid... None in my bathroom or the boys' bathroom. None in any of our bedrooms or the truck. It's past 4 in the morning and I'm pushing on the top of my stomach with my fist, trying to offset the pressure my bloated stomach is applying to my ribcage. I am muttering owieeeahhhh over and over again and can hardly breathe because my diaphram is being squeezed. My stomach lining is inflamed and all of me is ticked off and achy.
Finally, after going through every desk drawer in the house I found a small roll of Tums in the kitchen drawer under the phone. I don't eat green Tums, so I had to throw out three before I got to a pink one and an orange one.
I heated up a magic bag, grabbed a blanket, then sat very upright on the couch in the living room praying that I'd burp out whatever was accumulating in my gut.
The pain didn't allow me to relax so I paced in circles then thought I'd check my emails because you never know who may have tried to get in touch with me since I last checked at midnight.
From there I blog surfed. First I went to c jane enjoy it ( a young Mormom blogger who struggled with infertility for 5 years and then had a baby last year) then I hopped over to her sister's blog, Nie Nie. (She's called Nie Nie because her married name is stephaNIE NIElson. She is a beautiful young mom to 4 children and was involved in a plane crash last summer that left the pilot dead, her husband with burns over 20% of his body and her with burns over 80% of her body.) While they was recovering/fighting for their lives, cjane and her husband took 3 of their older kids to live with them for 6 months.
I got so caught up in their interesting lives that I didn't notice that my abdominal pain had subsided until almost 5 am. Then I went back to bed. Thank goodness for the internet.
I got up a few hours later feeling anything but rested and went to work. At lunch I stopped in at Tim Horton's to get a sandwich for lunch and while I was ordering, I heard a bunch of sirens again. "Holy cow", I thought to myself. "Langley sure has alot of emergency activity lately."
After I placed my order I turned the corner of the building and drove up to the window. Just as I pulled up, I noticed the car ahead of me was cut off by a black SUV that drove right in front of it, blocking it's path. Then two men with handguns jumped out and ran to the car screaming, "GET OUT!"
Frantically I looked for a camera. Mine was still on a field trip, and Drew's D60 was in the kitchen at home, but his little point and shoot was in the console between the front seats. I've never used one before and they are Not At All like a DSL. My fingers of course were extra clumsy because I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't read a thing. Plus, well, there was that matter of GUNS. Right over there, like 20 feet ahead me. I did manage to turn the camera on, and the Tim Horton's order taker looked at me like I was a deranged.
Within seconds, a circle of cops, each with their guns out, closed in on the car screaming, "GET OUT OF THE CAR. HANDS UP!" Just like in the movies. Or TV. And what am I doing? I'm still fiddling with that stupid little point and shoot camera. I managed to find the shutter and I clicked it, probably taking a picture of my face as I think I had it pointed in the wrong direction. And then a great big red warning sign filled the screen advising me that the batteries were dead.
The entire Tim Horton's staff is now crammed in the take out window trying to watch the action from a safe distance and it occurs to me that this take down could be gang related and a carload of hoodlums from the other gang could drive by and shoot wildly into the scene so maybe I should spend less time trying to capture images and more time trying to squish myself under my dash.
Eventually a gaggle of cop cars arrive on the scene offering back-up to the plain-clothed officers in the black SUV. At least 6 cops, all in a semi circle with their guns pointed at the guys in the blue car, move in tighter and tighter. I have to leave my vantage point as other Tim Horton customers are waiting for their food, so I slowly drive by, taking a good look at the young men who have their faces smooshed up against the pavement. As I turn onto the Bypass I notice all the oncoming traffic has come to a complete standstill and every driver in the inside lane has his window open and cell phone out, recording the arrest-circus on their 3 megapixel phone cameras. AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN AWESOME SHOT. Police action in the foreground, truckers with cellphone cameras recording it all for YouTube in the background.
Anyways, after that I went back to work for a few hours.
Then left the house at 5:30 pm in order to get to a bridal shower on Prometory Mountain by 7:00 pm. (AGAIN! With the no camera thing. No one was taking pictures. They were kinda shocked I came without my constant companion. And I did feel naked.)
I left shortly after 9:00, then made two stops on the drive home, pulling into my garage a few minutes after 11.
Craving vegetables in a way I can't explain, I just finished making and eating a chicken stir fry.
Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday. I need a boring day.
Three things I'm thankful for:
1. I didn't get shot by a stray bullet.
2. I have 3 days left to buy a new vehicle.
3. I am SO sleeping in tomorrow.
Shalom,
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