Hero Worship

I have nothing of real interest to report about my family visit. It was tough to keep them entertained. They are not the type of people who can just sit and relax, they have to have things booked for days in advance. We managed to cram in almost everything they wanted to do, including a day out on the jet skis on Monday. During a concentrated effort to dump my half-brother off the back of my ski I managed to whack my left knee something fierce against the running board. Ouch. It's swollen and bruised, but it was worth it to hear the roar of approval from the watching crowd up on the beach. Initiation is a bitch. He was sullen and dark and moody, and never lifted a finger to help with anything, but otherwise I have to say he wasn't as bad as I envisioned. I often paint things a darker shade than I need to.

When I was a little girl my Dad was my hero. It seemed to me that he knew a little bit about almost everything, and could fix or figure out how anything worked. He took hot baking dishes out of the oven without mitts (due to calloused hands from working at the saw mill). He could drive any kind of vehicle, find his way using just the angle of the sun and make a salad out of roots and berries from along the hiking trail. He knew every type of tree, bird, fish and flower in our world.

As he left yesterday I became aware of how many times over the previous few days I had become frustrated by his apparent lack of common sense. Little things. Like he can't figure out how to open a box of cereal without destroying the top of the box so it can't be closed again properly. Or he makes the coffee too strong every day because he can't or won't read the instructions on the bag about the coffee to water ratio. Or he tries to start one jet ski using the lanyard (key) for a different one. I realize he is getting older. I'm just not used to following my Dad around and putting the milk back in the fridge. I want my hero back.

I guess I should mention that I finally got my period on Monday, 16 days after my last Provera dosage. I'll take my first BCP on Sunday. I'm still in complete denial. It really hasn't hit me yet that from here on out I have absofuckinglutely no chance of getting pregnant. Although...the one and only time I was able to get pregnant was when I was on BCPs. Ah, the irony. That's a story for another day.

In honor of our 5th wedding anniversary, which was last Saturday, here are two of my favorite wedding pictures.