Ah, the weekend is finally here.
I don’t know why this has felt like kind of a long week, but there you go. Actually, it was a lot like every week for me — long, but yet short too. I mean, in some ways it feels like it was just last weekend, but in other ways, it seems like it’s been forever since last weekend.
I’m not making any sense. I apologize.
Some of you may be wondering what is happening with our friends Chris and Shelley and their new baby. Well, they are still waiting for their baby! Shelley is now 9 days overdue and I am having a hard time even imagining what that must be like. I was three days overdue with August, and that seemed an interminable amount.
So we’re sending “C’mon, baby!” thoughts to you guys. I am so proud of them for letting their baby take his/her own time. So many of us kicked them out when they had overstayed their welcome. If it’s any consolation, when I compare my friends’ stories of how their labors started naturally to my own experience of jump-starting the major contractions with pitocin, theirs sound much more pleasant. But pitocin isn’t the end of the world, either.
We’re just hoping for a healthy baby and mommy (and daddy, for that matter).
Changing subjects abruptly: We now have an Apple store! For the love of Chrisna, it’s the most beautiful thing in the new West County Mall. Yes, I was insane enough to go there on its opening day. No, I was not insane enough to buy anything.
I was compelled to go for two reasons:
1) To worship at the new Apple store; and
2) To see the half-acre of shoes at Nordstrom’s.
First, the Apple store. It’s white. On many levels, actually. The lights make everything glow. It was so beautiful, I almost cried. Seriously. It was like heaven. Super-cool, kick-ass computer heaven. Even Auggie sat up and took notice.
I wanted a copy of Microsoft Word for OS X, but it is $369 and I just cannot justify paying that much when Apple Works is completely adequate. (Just not sexy in any way.)
One totally funny moment in the Apple store: I was looking at the display of digital cameras and camcorders when an older feller picked up one of those new tiny Sony camcorders and asked his younger companion, ‘What’s this?’ Feeling filled with the wonder of all things Apple, I piped up, ‘It’s a video camera.’
He looked up at me and I thought he was about to tell me that of course he knew what it was and I should keep my mouth shut when people ask rhetorical questions. Instead he said, ‘Really,’ completely astonished, without a trace of irony.
It was a great moment. And I chuckled as I walked away. (And reaffirmed my commitment to not speak to strangers unless spoken to. I’m such a Midwesterner.)
Next, after I tore myself away from the Temple of Apple, Auggie and I trekked to the first floor of the Nordstrom’s to see the Field of Shoes. It would be completely overwhelming, I think, even without the hundreds of people milling around, sprinkled with dozens of middle-aged, executive-type men who were apparently the shoe salesmen.
I saw exactly two pairs of shoes that I would ever consider wearing, but there was no way that I was going to pay $104 for a pair of black boots with a cool, sporty sole that would most certainly not fit in with the ole play group activities.
The Merrell Jungle Mocs for $69? Maybe. But not today. Too many people.
I felt like such a yokel, browsing around Nordstrom’s. I saw a sweater coat thing that had a $2,100 price tag and I was all like, ‘Well, goll-ee!’ I felt like freakin Gomer Pyle over here!
So, all in all, we had a good time, fighting the crowds with our stroller, waging war in the parking lot, and blazing new trails as we were the first to defy the “15 minute Food Court parking only” signs, since all the garages were full.
We’re rebels.