September 16, 2003 - 10:22 p.m.
My Mom: I suppose if you were still living in Virginia Beach, life would be pretty interesting right now.
Me: If I were still living in Virginia Beach, I'd be at your house already.
I've been working on getting Colin's shield ready for the pas later on this month and watching the Weather Channel. They have reporters standing around various dark beaches from Nags Head to the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Well, Bob, residents here have been strongly urged to evacuate but me and my cameraman are going to hang around a few dozen feet from the surf because it really boosts ratings... And here I am, relatively safe in Fairfax County, buying bottled water at Target. I remember the mess Floyd made of half the state in '99... We were right on the "boil all your water" border in Chesterfield. I have no idea how things go in this part of the state, so I decided to lean toward to paranoid side.
All the anticipation is taking the edge off my trip to the consignment shop in Sterling this morning. I am sentimental to a ridiculous extreme and collecting my boys' outgrown clothes and toys to sell was a heart wrenching task. Though Mike and I agree that two children are enough for us and I am happy to free up some space in their closets and rooms, there is still a reluctance to part with the direct objects of their infancies. I'm keeping each of their first pairs of shoes and the little knitted hats they wore home from the hospital. Their hospital bracelets are glued into their babybooks along with locks of hair from first haircuts. That ought to be sufficient memorabilia. I suppose it's just difficult to mark the end of the Baby Age...
