Reading Routines

Kate's mom Peggy came over today, which is always nice. She's a wonderful person and is totally willing to help tidy things up around here. We bathed Aislin and went through her clothes. There are already clothes she doesn't fit anymore, and the diapers she's in currently might be too small. It was a nice time, but I felt a little out of place simply because I had gotten used to doing things with just Kate. With Peggy there, I wasn't sure how to proceed. It wasn't unpleasant; I just felt like I stood around a lot looking useless.

One routine Kate and I have worked out is in the middle of the night when Aislin screams, I check her diaper and change it if need be -- and usually need most definitely DOES be, like in the worst way -- and then I stay in the room and read while she feeds her. That way I'm alert and at her disposal should she need anything like food, water, pain pills (insert Left 4 Dead reference here). The book I've been reading has been Catch 22, and thank God because there's no way I would have found another reason to read it. I just finished it a few minutes ago, and I'm glad I did. Until I started this routine, I found the book repetitive, boring, and just detestable. And long. Oh the length. It stifles me. But now that I've finished it, I kind of liked it. It picked up at the end once I found the plot and picked up on some of the symbolism. The thing is, this book is filled with idiots. Just damn fools. The kicker is that they're all the ones in power making decisions. So these morons are making these horrible decisions for their own personal gain and adversely affecting the relatively sane people below them. One in particular is when the medic is perceived KIA when he's actually safely back at base, but the paperwork has already been filed. The Colonels inform his wife in the states and stop his pay. He tries to communicate with her, but the army won't let her communicate back because they believe he's dead; when she tells them he's not they say she's wrong. When she tells them of his letters they say she's the victim of an opportunistic prankster and should pay it no mind. She moves away to avoid it all and leaves no forwarding address. It's an instance of humor that reminds me of Chekhov: it's this painful kind of humor that crushes your spirit. It unsettles me.

Anyway -- now I'm going to read Abraham Lincoln by Thomas Keneally (the guy who wrote Schindler's Ark which became Schindler's List) so I can be as prepared as possible for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's a great plan.