Books

This week's Newsweek magazine was dedicated to summer reading and I was thrilled. Jess was out of town so I had the perfect occasion to buy a stack of books. Armed with a my Newsweek and with JAC in tow we ventured out to our local bookstore on a stormy afternoon. Things quickly went awry. JAC grabbed my magazine and began ripping it to shreds and shoving strips of paper into his mouth. Dismayed I took the magazine away and JAC began to wail as if he were going to die. His wailing garnered stairs from customers but also sent a sympathetic sales guy running our way. I desperately pointing to a book in my shredded magazine while simultaneously trying to distract JAC. JAC is a child of steely determination and refused to be quiet. The sales boy quickly returned with my book. He seemed slightly out of breath but told me my chosen book, "looked good" and suggested a similar book as well. He retrieved the second book and JAC continued to wail only in louder, higher octaves with small breaks as he caught his breath. Feeling defeated I decided to purchase my two books in lieu of my previously imagined stack of books and leave before someone tried to call CPS on me. JAC and I dashed through the rain to my car. I put him in his car seat, turned on the engine and he promptly went to sleep. I was relieved that crying had subsided and took a minute to enjoy the quiet. At that moment I made an executive decision. We would not be going straight home. Our house was only a few minutes away and I didn't want JAC to wake up when I took him out of the car. Instead I went through McDonald's drive threw for ice cream and parked my car in our church parking lot. I sat in the car with the engine running, listening to quiet music, eating ice cream and reading a good book. It worked out so well that I decided to leave a book in the car. If JAC falls asleep in the car I sit in the car enjoying the quiet and reading my book. I've even put a nail file in the car so I can spruce up my nails while JAC sleeps. A rough afternoon has turned into an easy solution.