Time Flys and Robert Jordan is Dead

So I haven't blogged for a bit. It's been busy. This last weekend we were at the Ren Fest all morning helping run the Greyhound Pets of America booth. I was nervous about having Ruby and Keegan with just me and Lyle at the booth for 5 hrs straight. Everything went splendid though. Ruby wooed the crowd with her soft fur and beautiful eyes. Keegan, in his renaissance gear with his joker's hat and wings, also drew in some of the crowd. Keegan spent a good portion of the time sitting in the grass next to me playing with the grass. I cringed a bit when he first grabbed a handful of grass because I can't think of a place with dirtier grass. But he didn't eat the grass and really seemed to be enjoying himself so, no harm done. A number of people stopped to look at Keegan and coo over how cute he was; Keegan granted everyone who stopped a big toothless grin. Keegan rested for a while in his Stroller with the seat reclined and even took a short nap. As I walked around with the stroller trying to lull Keegan to sleep I noticed a number of screaming, crying distraught babies in the crowd. I figured at some point that would be Keegan, but he was content the whole time and very fascinated by all of the people and by the trees. Keegan seems to love watching the leaves on the trees.

On Sunday we went to the apple orchard. Keegan was a little crabby because I think he was pretty tired from Saturday. The apple orchard wasn't actually open for people to pick apples yet. Keegan was in his backpack and we (mom, dad, Lyle, and me) walked down the main trail. There were a lot of signs that said not to pick the apples. I wanted Keegan to see an apple though. So Lyle sidled up to a tree and I held out a branch of the tree with apples on it. Keegan thought the apples were really neat and as I stretched out the apple for him to hold, the apple came off of the branch. I felt a bit guilty about that, but the harm was already done so I let Keegan hold the apple and inspect it. When he was bored with it I quickly threw it under the apple tree with the other apples that had fallen down...see no harm done :-) We also ended up at the Maple Grove art fair. Mainly this was because I wanted to go to Best Buy to get a new iPod and then mom and I both wanted to go to Ulta. It was a beautiful day so we went over to Arbor Lakes to walk around and, low and behold, there was an art fair going on. All in all it was a wonderful weekend; although very busy.

So that kind of brings me to Tuesday. Tuesday was crazy. It started at 3am when Keegan woke up screaming; we don't know why. We think maybe the lightening and thunder scared him. It took a good hour or so to calm Keegan down and get him back into bed. Usually we get up at 5:30am...we all slept in until 6am because we were all tired from being up in the middle of the night. Switching to present tense here... Seeing that it is 6am I swear a bit, I have a lot to do at work today and I want to get in early. After the morning routine of getting everyone ready and fed; cats, dog, and baby. I leave to go to work while Lyle is finishing up feeding Keegan. It is pouring outside. My normally 35 minute drive to work takes over an hour, both because of the rain and because I am leaving late. I get to work and rush to try and get some work started. My technical lead has scheduled a team meeting for Monday and I will be out of town. I write a note to let him know this. He is confused; originally I was only planning on taking Wed - Fri off. But being that we are camping this weekend and then going out of town on Wed. I need the extra two days to unpack, wash clothes, repack etc. So he reschedules the meeting. I am very tired. During lunch I had planned to go to Best Buy and use the coupon I got with my iPod for 10% off of any iPod accessories. It is raining and looks crummy out. I decide to go out anyway, because I forgot to pack a lunch and need something to eat.

I stop by Milo's sandwiches (exactly like Jimmy John's) and grab a sandwich. I go into Best Buy with a list in mind; I need a charger, a case, and headphones. I find the charger and case quickly and begin searching for headphones. Headphones are so difficult to buy; I want ones that are really comfortable and sound really good. I decide to spend up to $40 on a pair because I want nice ones and find a pair of Skullcandy Lowriders that look like they meet my needs. Up at the cash register I am informed that my coupon works on all iPod accessories except for the ones that are made by Apple; okay I think that makes absolutely no sense. Since everything is rung up I pay for it all and then realize the charger I bought is made by apple so I don't get money off of it; I realize I can get it way cheaper online.

Exiting Best Buy I drive back to work and rush upstairs excited to try my new headphones. I am sorely disappointed, the headphones suck. They are uncomfortable and have some static noise in the background...I am bummed. I work some more and then realize it is approaching 3:30pm and it is time to go home. I had started listening to the audio book "The Time Traveler's Wife" while I was coating. So I continue listening to the book on the way home. About 10 minutes from Keegan's daycare I get a call. It's my mom. She is wondering if anyone has left work yet to come pick up Keegan. I am embarrassed and confused, for some reason I have been thinking that it is Wednesday all day. Maybe that's because I did enough at work to encompass two days. I let her know that I am on my way there and will be there in about 5 minutes. I am grateful that she called because otherwise I would be at daycare looking for Keegan.

We all play for a while at gma's house and then Keegan and I go home. I get dinner ready for Keegan and he eats that. Keegan plays some but I can tell he is tired. Lyle gets home around 5:30pm. We immediately leave to grab a bite to eat and then go to Home Depot to pick up the last two pieces of wood we need to finish the bedroom window jamb downstairs. They don't have the wood we need. We run over to Best Buy and I return the headphones and charger that I bought earlier in the day; I get different headphones. We run to another Home Depot and they don't have the wood there either. Lyle inquires about when the wood will be back in stock and we are informed that it has been discontinued. We get the closet door for the bedroom closet and then, defeated in our quest for wood for window jambs, pay for the closet door and leave the store.

It is now an hour past Keegan's bedtime and he is getting very crabby. I strap him into his carseat and help Lyle hoist the closet door into the back of the car. It is too big to fit in the car. so we leave the back of it hanging out. Luckily it is only lightly sprinkling outside. We get in the car and pull out onto the road to go home. It starts pouring, Keegan starts wailing. We get home and I get Keegan out of the car and run him in to feed him and put him to bed. Lyle pulls the closet door out of the car and removes it from the, now soaking, box to dry it off so that it isn't ruined. Walking in the door I realize that we still need to pick up the house before the cleaners come tomorrow, that Keegan needs his stuff prepared for daycare, the cats and dogs haven't eaten dinner yet, and Keegan still needs to eat and be put to bed. I also need to take a shower and I had a list of other things I want to accomplish tonight.

I start to make Keegan's bottle and feed him. Lyle walks in and says "Oh, it's after 8pm." I kind of stare at him not grasping why this is significant. He stares at me, "I have to leave for hockey in 10 minutes." I just glare at him. He says "Why don't you let me feed Keegan while you go take a quick shower." I am not happy. I take a quick shower and Lyle leaves for hockey. The house still needs to be picked up, Keegan is still not asleep, and I was exhausted sometime around 4pm. So I clean up the house, Keegan is very cooperative and goes right to sleep, and I actually get some additional things done that I wanted to do. I am not as seething at Lyle as I was when he left. Although some part of me wishes that I could say "oh, I have to go play video games for 2 hours, right now, see you later" and leave him with all the work. Although that's not really fair of me because he has been left to pick up the house before when I am not there.

Well, anyway, things are going better than when Lyle left. I am downloading audio books to my computer when a headline pops up on Audible.com. Robert Jordan has died of a rare blood disorder. There are those of you who might not realize the significance of this. Robert Jordan wrote the Wheel of Time Series. This series is, so far, 11 books long, with each book numbering close to, or over, 1000 pages in length. For me and one of my girlfriends in high school this series became our religion (figuratively speaking). We read and re-read the books and had secret identities that coincided with the figures in the books. We wrote each other notes coded in language only a fellow Wheel of Time reader would know. After high school I continued reading the series still enthralled with it; the book's character's lives were entwined with my own. After college I continued to buy the books but vowed not to read another one until they series was complete. Upon his death, Robert Jordan was half way though completion of the final book in the series. Now we will never know how this series ends. I have invested huge portions of my life with these characters and story and it will be incomplete. I am sure someone will finish the book and sell it, but how will we ever know how the series was meant to end? On that rather depressing note Lyle came home to see me sitting by the computer crying. It was rather silly but it was such a shock to realize that all the characters I have followed for so long were just going to be gone. Lyle thought I was upset with him since when he left I was pretty grouchy at him and then I said "Robert Jordan died." I started laughing because really it's silly to be upset about this, Lyle gave me a hug and was like "Okay well that's not what I expected to come home to."

So as a finale to this long blog entry. Let's all tip our hats to Robert Jordan, a masterful writer who, with his books, got me through much of my pre-teen and teenage years. I guess at long last the epic series of The Wheel of Time is finally at an end.