Enough about me, let's talk about me

Because tomorrow is all about Andrew, I would like to take this opportunity to make his birthday all about me. I'm told I'm good at this, so kick back and relax.

I took today off from work to do something that I would do for a very short list of people. I drove - through pounding rain as it turns out - 2.5 hours down the Kansas Turnpike to see my dear friend Kristie. I drove all the way to Wichita just to eat lunch with her, see her 2-year-old son and then turn around and head back home and I would do it again tomorrow without hesitation. (Well, if I could be guaranteed less hydroplaning on the way home.) I hadn't seen her for a year and it was well worth it. The great thing about my afternoon was that even after not having seen her for a year, it seemed as though just weeks had passed, which is always the way it is with good friends.

That brings me around to the fact that my son turns FIVE! tomorrow. Technically he turns FIVE! in about three hours, as he chose to join us in the early morning hours of July 9, 2003. And, just like the time that has passed with my good friend, it seems impossible he's FIVE! already.

FIVE! years ago tonight my husband and my doctor were discussing the Tour de France. Lance was having a rough start and the Tour had hit mainstream media so everyone was talking about it. I recall being a tad annoyed that we were discussing bicycling and Lance Armstrong because, really, come on guys. I'm kind of trying to have a baby here. I've only been on pitocin for something like 86 hours. Don't mind me. Just grab an anesthesiologist once you're finished discussing the next mountain stage because I've only waited 13 hours for an epidural, what's a few more?

Tonight, that baby I was about to have and my husband are the ones discussing the Tour. Andrew is soaking up everything Mark will share with him about the riders, the strategy, the history, you name it. It's quite amazing to me that the creature causing me so much discomfort FIVE! years ago tonight is now the member of our family with the best memory and is quickly on his way to having the broadest vocabulary in the house as well.

Just wow.

If I've got a FIVE!-year-old, I must be getting up there. I'm not sure when I got this old, since for a couple of hours this afternoon I felt like I was 20. And, also, does FIVE! years seem like a long time to wait for an instruction manual to arrive?!?!