More Than Infinity

In a few hours, I will see my children. My oldest daughter has already emailed me the two places that she researched as the best shopping in Kentucky: WetSeal and Deb's. My youngest daughter made me promise to not go dancing when they come up or she will "hate [me] for more than infinity." That's a pomise she won't have to worry about me breaking. On Thursday, after having my toes kicked by half the leads during Balboa lessons and preparing to go home, I told the instructor that I was going to have to catch up the following week because my kids were coming up for my birthday. She told me I would get a birthday dance that Thursday. A week, maybe a week and a half, without dance, to spend time with my kids--but it's worth it.

My laundry's done, the house picked up, and the floor vacuumed with the new Bissel I bought last night at WalMart. I didn't finish until about 1 AM, so I skipped vacuuming the car, took advantage of the 7 minute snooze this morning and was still running a little slow when I got ready. Most likely, it was frying that bacon and egg that slowed me down. My kids have been living on bacon, sausage and  pancakes for as long as I can remember.

I've changed a lot since I last saw them in December. I'll be greeting them after work in my pastel blue and lavender chiffon top and fuschia-flower printed long skirt. Wearing makeup in the style taught at the M.A.C. counter, and my shoulder length, now blonde hair, will they recognize me? I have to say, that in the last 7 months, they only saw my image on my Facebook photos. Maybe that will be enough.

I am so happy. My birthday week is actually starting off pretty well. I started to get to know my neighbor Brandi a little better--we stayed up til 5:30 in the morning Friday night. Trying to draw me out the evening before, she told me she was lesbian and had a "something-gender" cousin as she put it. I filled in the prefix she couldn't remember and told her I was both. She invited me to tag along to her uncle's birthday party with her daughter and one of her cousins (it turned out to be her transgender cousin, D), and we spent a lot of time there. I found out that she had already told her family about me before we got there, and I was hit with sexual innuendoes as I met several of the guys before I found that tidbit out. Her beautiful cousin seeemed a little shy and she hung back with me for a while.

Sunday morning was almost a fiasco. It would have been if I hadn't shown up. The morning greeter apparently hadn't found someone to take her place, and one of the new greeters thought she was in the position she wasn't assigned. Once I took over the front door, and figured out which position she was supposed to be in, training on the spot, things began to right themselves. Roger showed up a week early to learn how to do coffee, hoping to work with the coffee server of the day. And it was a good thing he did, because the person scheduled to do the coffee came down with Lyme disease, as I learned during Joys and Sorrows.

While I was still greeting, before I went into the service, I got serenaded at the door by one woman who had colored her hair and let it out in tresses, something I hadn't seen her do before. And Gail gave me a kiss on the cheek as she entered. I could not suppress the blush either time.

That evening, my neighbor's cousin helped me bring in the groceries, telling me she rescued a kitten about 3 weeks old and wanted to find him a home because she couldn't take him in. He took to me so readily, and I did want to keep him, but my wife is driving my children up and her allergies wouldn't permit it. We asked several of our neighbors to take him in, if only for a week, but no one could.

Meanwhile, as I was complaining about being outed to someone before I met them, D told me she was transgender, too. It was then that I finally put the pieces together and realized this was the cousin Brandi was talking about. Brandi came by and promised me a phone call on my birthday.

Just a few hours to go. My coworker wants to take me out for a birthday lunch tomorrow, and I'm taking Wednesday itself off to spend the whole day with the kids. Meanwhile, I've got a big hug waiting for them and their mother. I miss her, too.

Hugs and God Bless,
Sophie