Monday, April 03, 2006

Prison Break....

Yesterday I went outside. Shhhhhh....don't tell Dr. Dark-Cloud.

It is cherry blossom time in DC and it is a force of nature that can't be denied--if you are anywhere near DC, you MUST see them. I would never have thought trees could be so compelling, but it is like stepping into another, softer world when you stand under them.

This year, however, I didn't get the chance to stand under them--I'm not that audacious. (Because standing up is generally considered to be a pretty ballsy action, right?). No, husband, or as I call him, "Jeeves", put the seat back on the passenger side of our car, rolled my window down and chaufferred my sorry ass into the city.

Note to self: Never, ever take for granted again the fresh, spring air coming through an open car window. It doesn't take much to make me happy these days, and that was pretty much unspeakably blissful.

We drove over the Potomac and into the city for the first time in 3 months. Husband drove up and down the Mall and then over to the Tidal Basin so I could take it all in. The flowers are amazing--I won't even try to describe. I did a lot of giggling. Husband and I had "that" moment, when we realized that next year, we will be down there, under the blossoms, pushing a stroller. Lump-in-the-throat time...

If you've been to DC in cherry blossom season, you know that 2/3 of the world's population descends on the Tidal Basin during these two weeks, so people watching is pretty much at its most spectacular. Perhaps even more than the flowers, seeing all the people sort of brought me back to life---really, in the past 3 months, I've hardly seen anyone but close friends, family or medical professionals. Nothing against them, obviously, but realizing there is still a world full of people out there was very reassuring!!! Even if most of them are idiots who dart in front of moving vehicles while pushing toddlers in umbrella strollers. Aside from its beauty, DC at cherry blossom time is a great opportunity to see Darwinism at its best.

Alas, all good things must end and after about an hour of a 3-lb baby using my bladder as a trampoline as we drove, I found myself unable to contain myself anymore and asked Jeeves to turn the car around and take me home to my bathroom--I haven't been more than 15 feet from a bathroom for 3 months....I felt like Linus leaving my trusty blue security blanket behind. If only SUVs came equipped with built-in bathroom suites--they're certainly big enough.

So home I went and back to bed...sigh.

But this is the beginning of a trend in "out of bedness" for me. I have two appointments this week--one with the dietician and one with my doctor. I plan on putting my foot down and demanding a terbutaline-free glucose tolerance test and I will pout at my doctor until I get my way. I am also allowed to spend an hour at a friend's baby shower this coming weekend. A whole hour!!!! (please note the sarcasm...) But it is better than nothing.

Oh, and I'm having a piece of cake at the shower.

1 comment:

Becci said...

That sounds wonderful! I wish there were more blossoming trees around here, but we mainly have evergreens on the west coast. I am itching to go outside and lounge in the sun, which doesn't hit around here til mid-June or so....