Friday, June 5, 2009

EHS Reunion Part 1

I have a guest writer tonight...my handsome, loving and tolerant husband! Please take the floor Mr. Divid Pansky....

Today started like most others- baby up at 5:00am, took care of dogs, rushed breakfast, and got ready for work. There were a few differences though, like the overturned white paint can on the basement carpet (must have been the dogs) and the fact that Bettie had a Dr.'s appointment this AM. The paint was not a big deal except that in trying to clean it up some dropped onto my right dress shoe. I tried to wipe as much off as possible, but it was time to leave for the Dr. so I forgot about it.

Off to work for what started as a pretty typical day. Then the fire alarm went off for the 2nd time in a week, and we were all herded out by our fearless office manager. It was standing outside that I got a compliment on my suit and attire for the day. The compliments reversed course when the complimentor looked down at my shoes. Oh yeah, the black left shoe and black and white right one. It then hit me that it was our reunion and that if a guy in the office noticed the shoes, then surely those who had not seen me in 15 years would notice it. After finding out nobody had shoe polish in their office, I did what anyone in my position would do...I started coating my right shoe in permanent black marker. It seemed a bit metallic, but I figured it would surely fade with time. It didn't. So I found my self using the marker on the perfectly fine other shoe in order to have two metallic shoes that shined like a sequin dress.

Ok, on to the main event the Reunion. When we got our registration packets, I sliced my right index finger on one of the papers. I thought nothing more of it until we walked into the main room, and I noticed blood on three of my fingers. At this point a former teacher of both of ours stopped us, and I realized I couldn't shake this man's hand with bloody fingers. I explained to him the deal and excused myself to the bathroom.

Great start, huh? Of course, the finger did not stop bleeding, I was starting to sweat, and 25 minutes into the Reunion I still hadn't even ordered a drink. I decided to ask one of the registrants if she knew where I could get a band-aid. Like this was one of her job requirements-welcome all guests and carry a first aid kid. She made a few attempts to find one, but it was not fruitful. I had two options- either go back in the loud room and try to explain to each person I encountered why I couldn't shake their hand or get the stupid finger to stop bleeding. I finally found my wife who was a bit worried about how Archer might be dealing with the noise, so we decided to take a little time outside. My finger refused to quit bleeding, so I decided that maybe I should go to the infirmary to get a band-aid while she fed Archer his dinner. Of course, the infirmary was closed.

After about another 30 minutes the finger stopped bleeding, but the wait meant we lost almost all of Archer's good mood time. In his defense it was getting late for him. So we got a drink, said hi to several folks, and then realized there is no way we could do dinner b/c Archer was getting cranky. We just decided to cut our losses and call it a night.

The total numbers for the evening included-
  • 2 hours at the Reunion
  • 1 hour of dealing with my stupid finger
  • 1 drink
  • 1 dinner for Archer
  • 0 dinners for Bettie and myself.

The below pictures were taken from our exit in the rain. It should come as no surprise that the umbrella that is always in the car was left at home. Luckily, we get a reunion night #2 tomorrow, and we have a baby sitter all lined up. Hopefully you won't hear from me as that will mean that things went smoothly...at least we set the bar pretty low with night #1.






1 comment:

Katharine said...

I think you both need a big hug....I hope that Reunion Part II went more smoothly!