jennanddave.com

This has been a truly astonishing day. Mostly for Dave. He's been burning the candle at both ends, as he is wont to do during the semester. He's so tired his eyes are all puffed up. This morning he came along for moral support for Henry's 6 year check-up, knowing that there'd probably be a flu shot involved. What we didn't bargain for was that the whole appointment would take as long as it did. Over an hour. Not necessarily a problem except Henry's appt was scheduled for 9:20, and Dave, in his endless optimism for the speed of the health care system, scheduled an appointment at work for 10. He missed it. He didn't, however, miss the complete melt down Henry had over getting his shot. He was handling it well until the actual needle surfaced, after which it was every man for himself. I had to pick him up, lay him on the table, and physically restrain him, both of his flailing legs, and both of his hands which were trying to protect his exposed thigh area from the needle. It was completely unexpected. It was also very loud because he was screaming at the top of his lungs, his uvula visibly vibrating at the back of his throat. Holly was crying. Dave was astonished. I was laughing, because what else could I do? I understood Henry's reaction, but I also understand his ability to take things from zero to five thousand in under three seconds on the drama scale. As soon as the needle came out, he stopped, said in a totally normal voice "Oh! It doesn't hurt anymore!", then proceeded to sob big tears that splatted on the floor all around him. Meanwhile, he soothed his pain with a doctor-sanctioned lollipop, then got dropped off at school. Dave screeched out of the school parking lot (figuratively, not literally) and high-tailed it to work, where, upon arrival, he asked me to hand him his stack of tests that he needed to grade. Thus was born the realization that they had never made it into the car, that in fact they'd never made it past the roof of the car which is where Dave put them so he could buckle Holly into her car seat when we were leaving the house earlier in the morning. Holly and I then spent the next forty-five minutes retracing our steps with no luck. With all of this going on, Dave had to submit a brochure for printing and finish up a talk he's giving this afternoon at Susquehanna University, all before 12:20, which is when he needed to hit the road. Fortunately, when he got home, he checked his email and saw that a teacher at the local high school had written to say a former student had found the stack and had given them to her. Talk about great!

Dave's having a very rough day. I'm worried for him. If ever a guy needed a beer...