when it rains, it pours

I am comfortably cuddled in my bed listening to the alternating waves of pounding rain and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with my sleeping son beside me and my sleepy husband next to him. I returned about an hour ago from a girl's night out that I had originally decided not to attend for financial reasons, but after a particularly hellish day, I decided that I needed to spend a little money and a lot of time with friends.

The rain just broke enough to hear a great quote:
Slartibartfast: Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day.
Arthur Dent: And are you?
Slartibartfast: Ah, no.
[laughs, snorts]
Slartibartfast: Well, that's where it all falls down, of course.

Our night out was awesome - we talked about all sorts of stuff... okay, we talked about kids and pregnancy and motherhood... we really tried not to but somehow every single conversation came back to one of those. Regardless I had fun, learned new things, enjoyed what was likely the best veggie burger I have had since turning veggie, and kept my entire bill under $20 (my self-imposed limit).

When I left at 7:30 the house was a fucking mess - toys and dishes and food everywhere. Bliss was wandering in at 11:00 to a clean house, a sleeping baby and a still awake husband. We stayed up even later, enjoyed our movie and I fell asleep feeling a million times better about nearly everything...

Our day had been shit.

The plan: catch bus at 9:15, get off bus and walk to library, return books, check out books while Sebastian makes use of play area, call Andrew, meet for lunch, eat lunch, head home, nap, clean, cook etc...

What actually happened: missed bus, fought with transit website while calming over-excited and bored toddler, found out bus time, packed up 30 pounds of books and other accoutrements, tried to get toddler to ride in sling comfortably, he loved it, I didn't - decided to take stroller, walk to bus stop, remove child from stroller and collapse, wait, wait, maneuver onto bus while wearing bag full of books, on back, child on hip and carrying the world's most awkward "umbrella" stroller, search for seat, find only empty seat at back of bus, guide Sebastian to said empty seat on moving bus, sit child in seat, set stroller down on some woman's foot (an accident) which prompts her to ask if I would like her seat (oh god YES!), I graciously accept and sit.

Bus ride is 15-20 minutes, child is pretty amazing which is a huge blessing because we are both hot, flustered and I am getting smelly (I'm a hippy and my deodorant, while awesome and organic, does have its limits), we get off of bus in "sketchy"part of town - Sebastian would prefer to walk so the backpack rides in the stroller. We have a long walk with many distractions (fountain, whale, bug, flower) and all I want is to get inside what I know will be an air-conditioned building, it is about this point I realise I have forgotten my phone at home (fuck), I stay calm and reassure myself I can use a payphone to call Andrew's cell, we get to the library, Sebastian is adorable and fascinated, things are looking up. We go downstairs to the Children's library and, I swear to you, I got about 2 minutes between managing Sebastian to actually pick out books (left with two books and two magazines). We were shhh'd in the bloody children's library - sigh.

We get checked out, pee, and search for a phone. Finding one free I call up Andrew only to get his voicemail. I left a message (he later asked me if I wanted to hear what I sound like when I am pissed off an trying to stay calm - I wish I had said no) and headed back into the library to a) search for my missing sunglasses and b) use their internet to email my techie husband. The moment we stopped in the very busy computer area, Sebastian began to throw a monumental fit. I jot a quick, impatient email and we venture outside to share an orange. Both a bit happier we return inside only to find the man who usually responds with lightening speed has not replied to the first email - so I wrote a curt, bitchy message. I got an instant, confused response - he hadn't gotten my first message - and we made quick plans to meet nearby.

We met, headed to the air-conditioned sanctuary of a mall food-court, discovered a decent and affordable vietnamese place and as my blood sugar returned to normal I started to feel human (and a little embarrassed). After lunch we treated ourselves to ice cream and walked over to the bus stop. Along the way we decided to leave the compact stroller with Andrew to store at his office. This was a great move, our bus ride home was warm but pleasant and coming home to a nice, cool house and the knowledge that I would be going out later was a great way to end our shitty day.

Gazing up in wonder at the Vancouver Library