Life goes on

This week has been so rough, it's getting hilarious.

On top of my flash drive exploding. And a pressure-packed week of work. And not getting to bed before 12:30 a.m. each of the last four nights. And Phoebe waking up in the middle of three of the last five nights, further disrupting our sleep. And our TV nearly catching fire in the middle of Roy Halladay's no-hitter ...

I locked Phoebe and myself out of the house yesterday morning. Kates had to leave earlier than usual for a meeting, leaving me to fight the morning battle of getting Phoebe ready for daycare alone. We came out as winners and were rushing down the stairs, albeit a few minutes behind schedule, when Kates texted me to ask how things were going ...

"Leaving right now," I wrote back. Then Phoebe and I proceeded to walk through the door. I shut it behind us, took one more step on the front porch, looked at my car and realized I didn't have my keys.

I texted Kates again: "Just locked ourselves out of the house." A few moments later Kates replied, "I'm on my way."

Phoebe and I proceeded to take a seat on the front stoop. She lit up at the sight of "birdies" flying overhead and the peacefulness of our neighborhood in the morning. In truth, those few minutes of waiting for Kates to rescue us -- and explaining to Phoebe how a bird's nest is like our house and that birds fly through the air to complete their daily tasks and find food just like Mommy and Daddy go to work -- were minutes to cherish.

Soon Kates pulled into the driveway. She handed me her keys so I could unlock the door and grab my keys, and Phoebe rushed to Kates's arms in excitement ...

We all moved on to our daily tasks, just like the birds.

One of my tasks on Thursday was really an enormous pleasure: Being present to help celebrate the centennial of our historic Administration Building. A building I've adored and taken so much pride in since those first days I laid eyes on it. Echoing the words of our president, I will never ever take for granted the privilege I have to work in that building each day.

On Thursday night, we were house hunting again. House No. 33 lies in another one of the neighborhoods we so desire, a couple blocks from the campus. It's a white house, with a large front porch and a barn-shaped roof. It doesn't have a garage, but the lot is huge, allowing plenty of space to build a garage and plenty of room for Phoebe to run. ... But any hopes we had of making it our own were dashed soon after we stepped inside. While the layout is wonderful -- with its open foyer and grand staircase -- the center of the house is sinking and the structure has been terribly neglected.

That story has played out over and over in our home search. Sooo much potential, but we'd have to win the lottery and take sabbaticals to restore some of these homes.

Sigh.