An Angry Hum

The first semester of my freshman year of Empty Nesting is almost over. Finals season is beginning. How are we doing you might ask?

I’m pretty sure I’ll get a solid B+. I’ll have to finish strong, but I test well. I missed the A by a hair for a few reasons I think. I didn’t cook as much as I should have. So far, I’ve found cooking for two to be…boring. Last week, for one of our meals, I bought a steak, a potato, and two beets. Now I’m sure some or most of you are rolling your eyes. I agree. It was a delightful meal, and I think too much. It’s true. In fact so true that my typing just slowed to a standstill while I endured a painfully dreary inner monologue on cooking for two. So I can do better.  I’ll make it a challenge.

Also, I didn’t learn how to tile my bathroom. Actually I didn’t learn how to tile anything. It’s been a tile-free semester. Those of you who read my blog/rant on my home-owning challenges will understand that tiling a one-foot square table top with a 12×12 inch slate tile would require that I take remedial classes in What The Hell Is Slate 101 and Is Tiling A Table A Thing 101b.

I failed the I Had Nothing Else To Do But Get Ready For Winter class. Yesterday we received what feels like 4 feet of snow (about 8 inches I’m guessing, judging by what was piled on top of our cars), and not only had I not gotten the snow blower out of storage, I’d forgotten that I broke our snow shovel last winter.

So that’s where I blew it. On the up side, here’s where I think we shined. We were spontaneous. I’d hop on the train and head downtown. She’d skip out early, and we’d have a drink somewhere while we played cards and talked about our days. We started a game of Rummy and the winner will be the first to get to 100,000 points. I’m currently leading 5655 to 5543. True story.

We tried some places we’d never been. Found a great little restaurant called Stewart’s in St. Paul that I think is a converted garden level apartment. We became regulars at a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington called Grand Szechuan. We went to eight Twins games this year, and have plans for at least ten next season. I got out to see a couple bands, including two featuring a couple dear friends (thanks Umbrella Bed and The Bad Companions).

I tagged along on two of Her work trips. One to Des Moines, and the other to San Francisco. While in Des Moines I went on a couple great bike rides. One day I rode into downtown Des Moines and hung out at a bike co-op for awhile before loitering on the capital lawn and riding to the High-Life lounge for Something Fried and a beer. Then I rode about 20 miles along a really impressive bike trail to the little town of Cumming for a snack and water bottle refill.

San Francisco was a blast, and I had one really remarkable day on my own. She took one day off and we drove north of the city intending on visiting Wine Country. Instead, we ended up going along the coast, stopping randomly for various combinations of views, oysters, and breweries. We stopped at an overlook near Mount Tamalpais State Park that still has three little WWII era bunkers that were built to watch for a Japanese invasion. It was a great day.

So overall I think we’re doing pretty well. I think Empty Nesting will be a good program for us. We’ve got some things to work on, and will eventually have to grow up a little and realize that it’s not all fun and games. We’ll have to consider that we have responsibilities now and can’t put them off forever. But that’ll come with time. And besides, isn’t having fun and making mistakes part of being a Freshman?