Thread Drift

[Crankin]

As soon as that plate smashed on the kitchen floor and Josh started screaming and clinging to my leg, I had a vision of what kids become when they see violence all the time! I've only done something like that one other time, but no one witnessed it. He doesn't remember it, even though he does remember little bits here and there of that time, especially staying at our friends the day I went to the hospital to actually deliver. The worst part of those six weeks was the fact that we lived behind the field of an elementary/middle school. Although they built another street of houses behind us right after that, at the time I was on house arrest there was a bit of desert, and then the school. I used to sit on a rocking chair on my patio and all I could hear were the voices of kids playing, the school PA, and teachers talking to their kids. I missed my students so much, it was like torture. My mom was taking care of Josh, all I could do was read and have visits from my friends, most of whom did not work. A few of my colleagues came to see me, too. I can't imagine how it would have been, if I had actually had to stay in bed. The only thing i looked forward to were my weekly trips to the OB's office!
When I talk about having friends over, it's not large scale entertaining! Having one couple over for dinner is not really any more work than we do for ourselves. We used to have a couple of parties a year, back in AZ, but now, that only happens for special occasions, and most of the time it's pot luck, or catered. Usually, when we socialize, we are going out to a restaurant.
We often do go out after long bike rides, but that's after a couple of hours of rest and relaxation, especially on nice summer weekends, or if we're traveling locally with our friends. I guess it comes down to the fact that I love food/cooking/dining out as much as riding, so that is as much a part of my life as the riding.
Emily, you might be right about some of the people in my bike group being introverts, but they do not seem it. They are very busy doing things, seem to socialize/go out a lot. I feel like there's some kind of code I haven't broken. A lot of them live in or closer to the city, so maybe it's that their lifestyle is a bit different. They are coming out to ride in my area. While there are a number of us that live around here, it does feel different.