Life is Short

Despite my late night last night, Marshall and I got up fairly early in order to pack as much as we could into our time together. Being the nice husband he is, he walked down to Starbucks and got me some coffee while I showered. He came back not with my usual tall but a grande, saying he figured I needed the extra boost of caffeine because I was probably really tired from working late last night. Boy was he right. After showering and walking the dogs, we decided on some lunch at Pei Wei - one of my favorite little spots in Charlotte. Mostly because we have neither it or P.F. Chang's in Wilmington, so I always use my trips to Charlotte to indulge in one of them. I'm glad I married someone whom I get to laugh with every day. Marshall can make even the most mundane thing funny (I really think he missed his calling to be a comedian sometimes). At lunch we spent some time laughing over the new touch screen drink machine in Pei Wei. Very space age and awesome. Marshall was amazed that it had about 20 some drinks in it, even though we both were settling for water and tea.

No sooner had we finished dinner than I was in desperate need for another caffeine boost. This time we stopped by Caribou. As we walked out when our coffee in tow, I noticed the coffee cup mantra on my coffee collar - "Life is Short. Stay Awake For It." Oh how true. If my coffee collar only knew how short life indeed could be. Some lives, like Nolan's, end before they have even really had a chance to begin. We spent the rest of day running some errands and hanging out with friends. Our renters are moving out of our house in Charlotte, so we stopped by there to check out the damage their puppy had done to some molding.

We managed to make it over to NODA about 30 minutes too early, so we decided to kill some time at none other than, yep you guessed it - the coffee shop. Our old usual hangout when Marshall still lived in NODA before we got married. The Smelly Cat Coffee Shop was a great place to run into all our friends and neighbors when we were in town and it often was the place for Saturday morning coffee with everyone so we could catch up. Unfortunately, so many people have moved out of there that now we go there and hardly see anyone we recognize. We did, however, see the owner's daughter Taylor. It's amazing to me that when I first started going there with Marshall Taylor was only about 10 and had to stand on a stool in order to reach the cash register. Now she's 15 and the cash register is replaced with an iPad. Yep besides the Mac store this is probably one of the first businesses I've seen that uses a program on the iPad to conduct all their transactions, including credit card transactions. It was great to see Taylor and to catch up with her a bit before we had to leave.

Then we snuck in a impromptu visit with our neighbors Jimmy and Misha after viewing the house. Afterwards, we headed to the Smelly Cat Coffee Shop in NODA for yet another caffeine boost and a visit with Kelly, Kevin and Grace. It was great to see them as we always have some good laughs hanging out with them. I had seen Kelly and Grace a few weeks ago, but this was the first time I had seen Kevin and the first time Marshall had seen any of them since Nolan passed away.

It was a great day spent with my husband and some awesome friends, but perhaps the most surprising part of the day was a package I received in the mail from my friend Tina. I had known she was sending me something but I had no idea it would be this. Tina had put together a wonderful care package with the most extraordinary letter. Inside the package was a candle, bath salts, crazy bright colored socks, bright colored hair ties, a purple fuzzy blanket and a nightlight. In her letter she explained each of the things she sent me. She explained that she had put together this little care package for my Charlotte apartment because she assumed I hadn't packed all the creature comforts I might normally have thought to pack due to the weight of leaving home "for the first time for any extended amount of time without Nolan."

The blanket she sent me was so that I just snuggle into it and let the day melt away. Of course it had to be purple, for purple is my favorite color and any of my friends have to know this. It is true, one of the things I realized right away that I forgot to pack was a blanket to snuggle with on the couch. I'm one of those people that regardless of the temperature outside, I find myself snuggled up in a blanket on the couch every evening. Up until Marshall brought the blanket he had in Charleston, I had to grab the comforter off the bed every time I wanted to snuggle on the couch. Now I had my purple fuzzy blanket and Marshall had his army wives blanket.

The retro sock and hair ties are for "Zumba, or whatever crazy dance class" I find myself going to in Charlotte. Ha. Somebody has either been reading my blog or my Facebook updates. Tina acknowledged that I had found a great outlet for my mind and body in these dance classes, for "working out your body has really great and unexpected healing properties." How true. I have been a bit disappointed that I haven't been able to go to Zumba classes that much since work started, but I knew this would happen. Working in the film business just doesn't allow you to have the time to do that, or anything else really. Monday thru Friday you can just forget about having any kind of life outside of work.

The candle was a great aromatherapy candle that smelled amazing. Tina said she found herself lighting a candle almost every day and knew I loved candles too. After all, I did steal her candle Christmas gift during the gift exchange game. Ironically, she knows me all too well. Marshall and I on Wed had just bought two candles for the house. But you can never have too many candles in my opinion.

The bath salts came with a warning from Tina, "Don't eat these!" Haha. No turning Kara into a face eating Zombie like that dude in Florida. But, she said since "long hours at work can make you feel like a Zombie, and I can only imagine you may not be sleeping feel these days anyway, a nice relaxing soak in the tub could do you some good." Yes, I imagine she might just be right. I'm looking forward to lighting my candle and relaxing in a tub full of bath salts.

But, the best and most thoughtful thing she sent me was the nightlight - a nightlight for Nolan. Tina knew that we had a nightlight for Nolan in the nursery at home that we left burning constantly since we came home without him. Now he has a nightlight in his home away from home - my Charlotte apartment. It's also a nightlight that is very reminiscent of his nursery. We painted the nursery with an ocean theme in mind and this nightlight is an underwater scene with a sea turtle and sea shells. It's beautiful and so unbelievable thoughtful.

I know that Tina being pregnant herself has struggled with how to deal with me and this letter solidified that as she said it in her letter. The last thing she wanted to do was cause me more pain and she worried that seeing her pregnant might hurt me. I understand her concern, but Tina and her husband Jamie are no different than Marshall and I. They are in a loving relationship and they wanted and tried to get pregnant. I don't feel any ill will towards them for having a successful pregnancy when ours didn't end up that way. I am excited for them and anxious to meet their daughter Harper when she makes her debut in a a few short weeks. I don't know if Tina will ever know just how much her letter and her care package meant to me, but I do hope she has figured out that my losing Nolan and her having Harper isn't going to destroy our relationship. On the contrary, I think it has actually strengthened our relationship as she was there for me despite her concerns about her pregnancy. She still found a way to show me and Marshall that she cared and was truly effected by Nolan's death.