I finished my last final today and am officially done with Fall Semester 2010. This semester was demanding of me in so many ways, and it demanded a lot of flexibility from my family as well.
Luckily, I have a husband who made it all work.
This semester Derrick left work at four o'clock every Tuesday and Thursday to relieve our babysitter while I stayed on campus to attend an evening class, finish assignments and make appearances at Students for International Development (SID) meetings.
Sometimes this meant I depended on him to either start dinner or to finish putting dinner together so we could eat when I got home. We've always split meal-times pretty traditionally, with me cooking and him cleaning up. This semester, even when he helped me put the meal together, he did the dishes every single night without me ever asking.
He folded laundry, took the baby on walks, gave her baths, did cleaning on the weekends, picked stuff up at the grocery store, came home early on other days I needed him; more importantly, he offered a delightful respite when I needed to relax and get my mind off things. Last week he bought some roses and a copy of Inception to surprise me when I came home.
I also think it worth mentioning that last week I was beside myself with hysteria preparing for finals and finishing up projects. This week wasn't much of an improvement. So for the last two weeks I really haven't been my usual, delightful self. Not totally out of character for me, but a bit unusual, I yelled "SCREW YOU!" at a driver edging towards me threateningly as I walked across a crosswalk on Tuesday. Oh, and I flipped a guy off last night; but he was leaning out of his car window, taking pictures of me and saying, "Work it, girl, work it!". Hey, I might live in Provo, but a creeper is still a creeper and he deserved it.
This being unusual behavior for me, I had to get it off my chest, so I told Derrick last night with some trepidation what an angry lunatic I've been lately. Did he say, "Jen, this is outrageous behavior and it has to stop"? Did he say, "Geez, Jen, take some freaking Xanax"? Nope. He laughed. And then I laughed. And then he said, "Well, it is finals week." In fact, on Monday I was in tears trying to convince Derrick that I really should go on Xanax. Instead of being convinced he talked me down from the precipice of my passing agitation and convinced me that: no, I really shouldn't.
And after all this, I demanded last week that he take me out tonight to celebrate my accomplishment of finishing a full-time semester well. A bit ironic, isn't it?
4 comments:
Haha! Awesome. I loved this. Some of my favorite memories of you are when you've gotten angry and said uncharacteristic-like things. I wish I had been there. Congratulations on finishing finals too. You're getting closer . . .
Look at you, edgy lady...shaved head, flipping people off, yelling obscenities. All you need is a some taxi cabs and a New York skyline :)
I'm glad you have that person to ground you...sometimes Neal tries to convince me that I should try Xanax...hahaha. Congrats to all of you for making this semester a success!
so glad to hear you're human!! :)
I was crackin' up though when I read this, and was thinking, "You go, girl!"
Yay for Derrick! What a great hubby.
It's nice to hear that Superwoman is also human sometimes too ;) Your "flaws" just make you all that more loveable to me! Congratulations of completing a very trying semester!
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