2001-12-02
So, today was my first official day of maternity leave. I slept until almost nine then got up and baked banana muffins. There's this pregnancy book a lot of people hate, called What to Expect When You're Expecting that advocates a pretty strict diet. Their idea of a scandalous food to treat yourself to once a week is a bagel. A piece of cake they recommend limiting to once a month, and you really should try to make it carrot cake. Most people, myself included, find this a bit insane.
But a friend gave me a stack of baby books she no longer wanted and among them was What to Eat When You're Expecting, by the same authors, and there are some good recipes. I actually like whole-grain baked goods, and it's nice to find recipes that already call for these ingredients; substituting doesn't always work so well. The banana muffins are the third thing from this book that I've made and all have turned out well. I've got a few more I intend to try.
I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 and arranged to have lunch first with my friend and former writing teacher, who lives in the town where my doctors are. We met at a quiet cafe and gabbed, mostly about the obvious topic du jour, my impending parenthood. Sometimes I worry that my relationship with this woman is a little one-sided; we seem to talk so much more about what's going on with me. Granted, recent years have seen quite a bit go on with me--meeting B and getting married, changing jobs, finishing and shopping around my novel, getting pregnant, moving to a new house--while her life has been a little more static. I often get off the phone with her wondering whether I've monopolized things, but today it occurred to me that this is probably okay. That there's some cosmic balance sheet, and that one day I'll probably be in her position, with a relatively stable life and I will have younger friends (she is probably around 20 years my senior, in her late 50s) who will regale me with the vicissitudes of their lives and I'll mostly listen.
Someone told me about starting off his legal career, getting lots of advice from an older, more experienced lawyer and expressing his gratitude. The older guy told him that when he was starting off, he had a mentor who'd helped him in similar fashion and when the guy thanked him, the older man suggested that he repay him by providing the same guidance to other young lawyers when the time came. I guess this is something like that.
After we parted ways, I had 45 minutes before my appointment, just enough time to zip over to the PTA thrift shop. Again, I left empty-handed. Are the pickings these days especially slim or is it me? Nothing remotely interested me.
Then I went to meet the other resident who'll be on call this month, a big goofy young guy I liked a lot and felt immediately at ease with. This is such a cool practice; I'd feel fine having any of the doctors I've met so far help deliver this kid.
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