Today is October eighteenth.
Eighteen Octobers ago, I was in high school, I lived in Dallas,
and we went to the fair every year.

the texas state fair in 90 seconds
big tex
fletcher’s corn dogs
funnel cake that burns your fingers but you can’t wait
the texas star ferris wheel against a faded denim sky
family
the music hall
the cotton bowl, texas/oklahoma weekend
tickets that disappear too quickly
frozen lemonade
fried everything
turkey legs
the quilt show
livestock
the marine band
blue ribbons
jar after jar of perfect preserves
loud guys selling kitchen gadgets
the mother of all food courts
the new car exhibits
good weather
the midway at night
row upon row of cheap plush animals
ice cream and cotton candy
fried twinkies
sitting in traffic on the way home.

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This is a busy week in the reverendhousehold. R’s business has been slamtastically busy. This weekend I am officiating a wedding, I’m teaching and preaching on Sunday, there is a healing service Sunday night, and it is our own wedding anniversary. R’s mom is visiting for almost a week starting this Sunday, and is always helpful and industrious when she comes, but I’m not sure where to start getting things ready for her to be helpful!

And I have miles to go before I even get to the weekend. I’m still finishing up my article—I have the final section to write, a final edit, and the dreaded footnotes to wrap up. We are interviewing doulas this week. It’s C’s turn to provide snack to her preschool class, which is a small thing but still something I have to attend to. Thursday our day care provider is going to a funeral and will be unavailable, so we are scrambling.

Oh, ahem, and I am going to see U2 tomorrow night with our clerk of session. And tomorrow I am taking C to the library to get her very own library card! And check out books! Oh she is beside herself with excitement, even though she doesn’t really get that. We have an old Curious George book from when R was a kid, and she will only let us read that right now. After about four readings, she had it basically memorized, so I am sure we will get more George adventures at the library.

My Gram is having hip surgery tomorrow. She fell at noon yesterday and laid helplessly on her kitchen floor for six hours until my mother stopped by after work for her customary check-in. No more will I chuckle at those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials. You may remember that mom was taking care of my aunt in her last days, and also is planning to spend a month here after the baby’s born… I told her that she is not just a member of the sandwich generation, but her sandwich is a Dagwoodian monstrosity with a boatload of ingredients to contend with.

And the Astros snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last night, and while I’m not a sports fan, I really wanted them to clinch the World Series in Houston, because the city has been through a lot recently.

Meanwhile, I was living this strange parable of time today. I actually set my alarm because our blonde alarm clock has been sleeping later these days. Even with the alarm clock, we ended up running late. I don’t know how this happens. Then I got surly, and on my way to work I called R’s cell phone to apologize for being surly. I also couldn’t help but notice that I was literally hitting every light on the way to work. I took the opportunity to breathe deeply at each stop. Then I went through my day, amazed at how much I was getting done, and not until I stepped out of my office at 4:20 to mail some letters did I see everyone’s office doors closed and lights out and realize, the clock in my office was wrong and it was actually 5:30. Which is right when we pick up C, but she is 20 minutes away.

There’s a line from a poem I like: “misfit in any space, and never on time.” I wrote something the other day about being misfit in space, today I was misfit in time.

That’s my life. Busy, but good. And nine weeks to go until the reverendbaby arrives.