Upon waking this morning, it seemed as though today would be anything but grand. Circumstances did not bode well. First of all, Moody is on Spring Break, which means that the dining rooms are closed for the next two weeks. This means Abe and I are on our own for food, which is fine, it's nothing new. It's just not what we're used to. This brings me to the second circumstance; Abe dropped me off at school today and kept on down the road towards Des Moines. Since Moody is on Spring Break, she is on vacation and will spend a few days in the DSM. That's all fine, I'm so thrilled that she will have some time with her folks and her older sister, but that means that now, it is only I who am on my own for food. Which brings me to the third circumstance; Abe took the car.
So there I am; sans food, sans wife, sans car. All of this is combined with the fact that I'm tired (I work nights on Sunday and Monday, so by the time Tuesday rolls around I'm generally ready for the weekend), with the fact that I've been trudging through nearly 700 pages of Diarmaid MacCulloch's "The Reformation" (an incredibly thorough accounting of the Reformation done by a non-Christian scholar... interesting), with the fact that I started a new class today (Contemporary Theology: it will be incredibly interesting, but looks like it is going to be freakin' tough). Like I said, the stars weren't necessarily aligned as I greeted the day.
But let’s get to the grandness. First and foremost, it is beautiful here in Wheaton. T-shirt and shorts weather. This made a short walk from campus to the downtown area of Wheaton, following my new class, absolutely delightful. As I hit the downtown, I sauntered around looking for a dining establishment. I was hungry, so what could be better than a Mexican restaurant with bottomless chips and salsa? I tell you this baldly… nothing. I strode solo into an empty restaurant, it took a few minutes for the hostess/waitress/only other person in the room to notice me, but upon doing so, she quickly furnished me with an ice-cold Pepsi and a basket of hot, salty tortilla chips. As if this wasn’t grand enough, as I ate the restaurant began to fill. I love people watching and I must say that a Mexican restaurant at 3:15 in the afternoon is a fantastic place to do so.
One of the greatest demographics of people to watch has got to be, far and away, junior high girls. To my delight, the waitress seated a group of bubbly, awkward junior high girls directly next to my booth. As the girls critiqued everyone who walked past the window, they proceeded to order. All of them, with glee, ordered virgin margaritas. At this juncture, I must reflect on my own days as junior high student. I didn’t really have “friends,” in the strictest sense of the word. And if I did have “friends,” we would never have dreamed of sitting down for margaritas after school. We’d have been lucky to stop by Mike’s 76 for a candy bar, maybe even a pop if we were lucky. Hell, I remember a time when I felt pretty darn lucky if I got 25 cents to spend at the concession stand at the pool. Where are these kids’ parents and why have they (said parents) parted so willingly with their pocketbooks? There is nothing like a blatantly pessimistic commentary of contemporary society to put me in a chipper mood. Sounds a little dark, but honestly, I love those sorts of insights.
As I headed back to campus, with a full belly and a Pellegrino in hand, I decided to stop by the campus IT office for some assistance in connecting wirelessly to the network. I signed up months ago for the ability to do so, but have never quite figured out the proxies. I digress. It took a friendly, young nerd a few minutes to get me up and running. But as I waited I listened in on the frenzied conversation of a group of excitable geeks (it must be realized that I use these descriptors quite lovingly). They were jabbering away about the motion sensors in all of the new Mac laptops. Apparently there is a new failsafe mechanism in the new Macs that stops the hard drive if there is a sudden motion (drop) so that the disk won’t get scratched. This mechanism has brought much delight to the world of Mac nerdery. Smart individuals have figured out how to tinker with this motion sensor to make pinball games where you tilt your computer to play the game. It has even been used to turn your Mac into a lightsabre; as you swing your computer through the air, it makes the appropriate lightsabre sound as you accelerate or decelerate your very own iSabre. Delightful.
So here I am; full, wirelessly connected, and quite content. Though I am without an automobile, I fear not. For the train will whisk me back to the city at precisely 9:54 pm. I will, however, be a little lonely when I arrive. I love my wife and love spending time with her. We may be a little co-dependant, so the time apart will do us good. As for food, I’ll be fine. There is a Chipotle less than 6 blocks from our apartment.
Today has been, so far and by all accounts, a grand day.
Tomorrow we will be heading to central Iowa. We are going to bury my grandmother. She battled a plethora of cancers over the recent years. She fought hard, but lost the war on Friday night. She died peacefully at home, surrounded by her boys (my three uncles and my dad) and her husband, Bernard (of 59 years).
