The Mundane and the Sublime

So I was making dinner tonight and remembered this funny story I wanted to write about that happened a day or two before New Year's. Jalal and I went grocery shopping at Bloom. (I can't decide if I was happy about how nicely Quinn behaved or if I was pissed off because he is NEVER that good when I take him grocery shopping. But I digress.) Anyway, we were tooling through the produce section when this older black women walked right around us to a younger black woman a few feet away. She proceeded to ask this stranger if she thought the collard greens the older woman has chosen looked good or not. The younger woman admitted that she had no idea, and Jalal just started laughing to himself. Now I suppose the older woman assumed that we don't eat a lot of collards (true), but we just found it ironic that she had a choice between another black person (who was clearly ignorant about collards) and a professionally trained chef and restaurant manager who could have easily told her if she had chosen the best greens, as well as probably how to prepare them.

The other morning I had a fairly dramatic revelation about the collision between the mundane and the sublime. Now, when I say fairly dramatic, that might be a bit of an overstatement. I mean, my sense of judgment may have been a bit skewed considering it was 2 a.m. I was awake at that time for God knows what reason, but I had terrible heartburn. So I had to go find some extra pillows in the linen closet and prop myself up to a sitting position. And then I got stuck eating all the green (lime) Tums because I had been avoiding them for so long that they were about all that was left in the bottle and I didn't want to turn on the light to find a better flavor. So here I am, wondering why on earth I can't seem to get any sleep just when I need it the most, and Maddie starts squirming and kicking. My first reaction was to wish she would calm down so I could get back to sleep sometime soon. But then I started thinking about how amazing it was that this actual person was inside me, wiggling around and kicking and hiccuping and only 5 pounds! She's completely alive and completely dependent on me for everything. I can't wait to find out what she's like on the outside, but if my experience with Quinn is any indication, she's already showing her personality in there. For instance, despite the pink satin slippers she already owns that are just 2 inches long, she seems to be more Ralph Macchio than Anna Pavlova. There's only 7 weeks left until her due date, and though we are not ready for her yet, I'm so excited to meet her face to face. No matter how little sleep I get because of her, that, my friends, is truly sublime. Love, Us.