Mom’s Visit | Day 4

[You can read about Days 0-1 here, Day 2 here, and Day 3 here.]

Hello, friends! Yesterday was an absolutely lovely day, despite ongoing thunderstorms and several tornado warnings for our area. We had made plans to go to the Princeton Metro Center, where there is a gym, pool, kiddie pool, etc. (similar to the YMCA), after Liam’s nap, which ran much later than usual, but we also wanted to wait for the storms to pass, so we didn’t have to drive in the rain. As I said, Liam’s nap ran pretty late, so it was nearly 2:15 when we texted my mom to let her know that we were ready to leave. Of course, she was miles away, and had just gotten her lunch, so it took her another 45 minutes to get there. We left as soon as she showed up, and drove the 30 minutes to the Metro Center. It only cost $11 for a family pass (which allows access to the gym, pool, and basically everywhere else), and it was probably the best $11 I’ve ever spent in one place.

The larger pool area was quite busy with other families, but the kiddie/wading pool was completely empty. I had never been to this place before, and was immediately drawn to the adorable, detailed, under sea paintings that covered the wall by the kiddie pool. It was large also quite large, and there was a basket filled with various, tiny pool toys for the littles to play with. I was nervous that Liam would be upset at the water, since he had never been in a pool before, and it was a bit cooler than a bath, but after just a few minutes of nervously clinging to me, he began playing with the floating toys, and splashing around happily. He even stumbled a few times, getting chlorinated water in his face, and it didn’t bother him one bit.

Unfortunately, since we left so late, we only got an hour and a half of swim time in before we had to leave for dinner, and I honestly didn’t want to go home. Showering off in the locker room while holding a shivering toddler was quite the ordeal (my mom decided to just take off and not offer any help), and while I initially wanted to get us dressed behind the curtained area, I opted to just put my insecurities aside, and get us dressed in the locker area, like everyone else. I was a bit anxious about being mostly nude around other people, but a funny, older woman put me at ease by cracking some jokes, telling me a funny story about her husband, and chatting to my little guy while I wrestled some dry clothes on him. I honestly don’t mind being surrounded by nudity. It has never bothered me. I’ve never been the prudish or modest type, though I struggle with my own insecurities with my postpartum body, and being nude around others. I felt comfortable. Sure, there were young, fit girls in the locker room, but there were also moms, and grandmothers, of all shapes and sizes. I felt oddly comfortable.

It was empowering!

After we were all dressed and dry, we went out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant near my mom’s hotel. Despite hearing great reviews, we were very disappointed with our overall experience. The staff were very friendly and attentive, but the floors were dirty, and some tables desperately needed to be wiped down. It wouldn’t have bothered me that much, except that there was only one other family there besides us, and the staff were all just standing around talking. We had no problems ordering, but when we got our food, we were surprised at the small. The prices were similar to other Mexican and Mexican-American restaurants in the area, but the portions were much smaller. We were also disappointed by the fact that Liam’s food, a grilled cheese and fries, did not get to our table until nearly 10 minutes after the rest of us had gotten our food. Kyle finished his very tiny enchilada before Liam even got his sandwich, and we were all left waiting on him. Overall, not the best experience, but the food did taste pretty good.

After dinner, we did a few laps around Target, where I saw one of my good friends, Olivia, who told me all about her new internship with a coroner’s office, and how much she was enjoying it. We also bought Liam a new swimsuit, which you will see in the next post!

All in all, it was a nice day. I had missed swimming so much, and it felt so good to be in a pool (even if it was just a kiddie pool!) after nearly 7 years. We went back again today, but you’ll have to read the next post to hear about that!

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jan

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Dream Journal 3/9/16

I was with a group of 6 or 7 people, all armed to the teeth with weapons, making our way through a thick forest toward a huge mansion in the distance. There were zombies closing in all around us. Once in front of the mansion, there was one zombie standing at the top of the steps by the front door, but she was different than the rest of the other zombies. She stood perfectly still and stared at us with creepy, white eyes. One of the girls in our group locked eyes with her, and the zombie’s face morphed into a zombified version of the girl from the group, and her eyes turned to a solid, creamy blue color. Suddenly, all of the zombies around us stopped moving, their eyes turned the same color blue, and they just stood there, swaying.

We took this opportunity to run into the mansion. Once inside, we barricaded the door, and the group immediately relaxed. The group, which had been 6 or 7 people, now had about 20 people in it, including popular YouTuber Markiplier, and we all separated to explore the mansion. The lights were on, and the mansion was very clean, as if the zombie apocalypse had never happened. I went upstairs with another girl from the group, and we raided a giant, walk-in closet in one of the bedrooms. I found a really cute bathing suit in my size, and put it on.

Connected to the bedroom was a huge bathroom with a walk-in bathtub. I filled the tub all the way to the top, and sat in it. Mark came in and pointed out the window, and asked if I had seen the weird zombie with the blue eyes. I looked outside and she was now out on the lawn, staring up at the window. I shuddered and looked away. Mark told me that he had asked out another girl in the group, but she said no, and I hugged him and asked if he wanted to get in the tub with me. He said yes, and jumped over the side and into the tub, which was now a much larger hot tub.

He looked out the window again, and the zombie was right outside the window, and we were suddenly on the ground floor. Mark locked eyes with her, her face turned into a ccreepy version of his, and her eyes turned to a muddle brown color. She began crying loudly. All of the zombies on the lawn began crying loudly as well, and Mark jumped out of the tub and ran from the room. I stayed in the tub, and just looked away from the window.

Several minutes passed, and I heard someone scream. I ran into the bedroom, where the girl I was with before was fighting off a zombie. I shoved it off of her and stabbed it in the head, then pulled her to her feet. I looked out into the hallway and noticed that all of the lights were off in the mansion. I asked her where everyone else was, and she shrugged. We walked into the hallway, where we were greeted by  a horde of zombies roaming the main floor. We silently made out way to the library, but we didn’t come across any of our people. The lights were still on in the library, and among the zombies were half a dozen human maids and butlers, cleaning, seemingly unaware that they were surrounded by zombies. We killed out way to them, and got them out into the main lobby, where our people were bus clearing out the zombies.

Once we met up with them, we fought our way back outside to the front lawn, where the hypnotic zombie was waiting. One of the guys in our group charged her, but before he got to her, their eyes locked, her face turned into his, her eyes turned red, and she viciously attacked him, tearing him apart. Blood and gore flew everywhere. She snapped her head up and looked at us, blood dripping from her mouth. She made a loud roaring sound, and we split up and ran for our lives.

That is the last thing I remember.
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[A little bit of back story for this next dream bit. In most of my dreams where I am running, I forget how to run, and it ends up being a weird skipping run, and I get angry. I can not run in my dreams for some reason.]

I was back in my hometown, and I was walking through the playground at the elementary school. There was a group of young teenagers goofing off near me, and I was trying to ignore them as I stretched. I was wearing workout clothes, and started walking briskly toward the baseball field at the end of the playground. I started jogging, and decided not to go any faster, because I was amazing that I was successfully jogging, and not limping/hopping/skipping instead. I started crying as I jogged around the field.

That is all I remember before I woke up.