Thursday, July 31, 2008

Daddy's home

Until last night, I hadn't seen my husband for three days. He was taking this little test called the "Bar Exam", which was being held in Arlington, TX, about twenty miles and forty minutes from Dallas. The three day exam process started on Tuesday morning, so Monday night around 6, Tim and his pals Talley and Dougherty escaped to a secluded and undisclosed location adjacent to the test site, where they would be in solitary - er, tri...itary confinement for the duration of the test-taking period. In other words, they were staying at a hotel near the convention center so they wouldn't have to drive from Dallas to Arlington every morning, and in the evenings, they would be able to study for the next day's exams without any distractions.

When he first mentioned his plan to abandon us for three whole days and nights, I pretty much thought that he was serving me a big ol' heaping pile of baloney, and I was none to pleased that I'd have to take on Alex and Murph all by myself. Although in reality, I had been basically single-parenting the two of them for the previous month, and these three days alone wouldn't really be a huge departure from what I had been used to.

Nonetheless, it took some convincing to get me on board with his plans, but my soon-to-be-attorney husband used sound logic and well-formed arguments in an attempt to win me over. I think he might've even cited a couple of cases. Anyway, it worked, and I had more confidence in him than ever that he would blow his test out of the water.

We didn't talk much over the course of the three days because, before he left, I had been given a strict set of rules regarding communication during exam time. Most importantly, I was not allowed to say anything that might possibly be considered "exam-related". That excluded a lot of conversation. So we talked a little about Alex, chatted about the warm weather we have been having, and then briefly discussed the meaning of life.

By last night, Alex and I were soooo ready for him to be back. Alex had been quite the hellion over the last few days, including his worst public appearance since birth when we had dinner with Leah and Chris at California Pizza Kitchen Wednesday night. Yes, I fear that we are on the verge of a new and dreaded phase, one characterized by hissyfits and squealing and many more instances of public embarrassment.

But before I jump the gun, I will also say that I think Tim being gone really started to take a toll on Alex. When he saw his daddy come through the door, his expression was one of pure jubilation. And his giddiness continued for the rest of the evening, especially when I recounted the story of Alex busting his head, yet again, when he fell out of our office chair (which he climbed into by himself). As usual, the experience was much more traumatic for me than it was for him.



So it's over. Tim is back, we all survived the bar exam, and now we just have to hold out 'til November for the verdict. Sigh.


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