fashionably late

I've always taken a while to warm up to major life changes. J and I dated for 7 years before marrying and spent another 8 years together before deciding to have a child. After one of our first dates, J said, "we have plenty of time" which has become one of the most repeated phrases throughout our relationship. Little did I know that my uterus and unborn child would reach a similar agreement.

When I went to Brussels in June, I claimed that my return trip was a "birth test." It started with a delayed flight from Brussels to Copenhagen that caused me to miss a direct flight to Seattle. I had been wanting to read "The da Vinci Code" and found a copy in the Brussels airport. A couple hours later I arrived at the transfers desk in Copenhagen. For two more hours, I chatted with two amusing South Africans as we waited our turns for an audience with the transfers desk. It took another 30 minutes to negotiate a flight to Seattle on a different airline with a transfer through Vancouver, Canada. My new flight was scheduled to leave in 4 hours so I walked several "laps," ate, and read.

They finally announced that our flight would be boarding, so we walked through the passport and security check into the gate area. I met a Dutch woman traveling to a small town north of Vancouver to visit her daughter and grandson. We were happily talking until we noticed that mechanics were removing the wheels from the airplane. As the realization spread to the other 300 passengers, conversations in various languages speculated about our fate. Thirty minutes later we learned that the brakes were being replaced and were asked to, "please come back in 2 hours."

Since I was in my first trimester of the pregnancy and had spent the previous 4 days in 12 hour per day meetings, I was exhausted. I walked for a bit then decided I wanted to sit near the gate and doze. I was creating a nest with my bags on the floor when a young gentleman said, "Hey - you look pretty tired. Please, take my seat and I'll take the floor." His seat was one of those rare airport seats that recline. I joyfully obliged, read for a while, then dozed. Several hours (and pages of the book) later, we were on our way to Vancouver.

Ten (or so) hours later, I watched a family with young children collect their bags and felt a wave of excitement about the new life we would be welcoming in 6 months. Then, I watched everyone else collect their bags. I wasn't too surprised that my bags had not arrived with me - I had missed a connecting flight, switched airlines, and added an extra customs stop all in one go. I acknowledged that this was the first of many lessons for birth and motherhood. I calmly approached the service counter and patiently waited in line as I watched the clock tick past the departure for my flight to Seattle.

I arrived in Seattle 12 hours later than planned, without my luggage, and having started and finished the 593 pages of "The da Vinci Code." I felt that I had passed this test with flying colors - I had remained calm, optimistic, and adapted to each change along the way.

Waiting for the actual birth hasn't been so smooth. Yesterday, I was frustrated for a while and even a bit worried that something was wrong. After a walk around Green Lake last night at 10:30 to the light of the full moon followed by a good night of sleep, I wake this morning reminded that from here on out life will be even more full of unexpected twists and turns. We are still within the healthy window for delivery and all signs are positive. Most first time pregnancies go beyond the due date.

I'm back in the "zone."

What really worries me is that I'm reading "Quicksilver." It's 916 pages and I'm only on page 549...