STRESS

Notice the all-caps? I'm venting.

I've had my share of stressful situations, not just at work, but with a number of other experiences in my life.
I was stressed in school as a kid to the point of migraines. I got stressed out over balancing work and school to the detriment of both. I stressed over whether I would ever play college soccer. I stressed about quitting college. I stressed over getting back into college.

I was stressed Kim wouldn't show on our wedding day. I was stressed I would fail my Paramedic exams. I was stressed I wouldn't pass the SFFD exam, I was stressed our UHaul wouldn't make the drive from Albuquerque to San Francisco.(It didn't)

But looking back at all of that from where I am now, it seems like no big deal.

The economy doesn't stress me. Politics no longer stress me.

My daughters stress me out. Eliza has a certain scream we now attribute to her teeth ripping through her gums, that, as Dane Cook jokes "Is the sound that makes me want to punch infants." He was talking about a car alarm, I'm talking about my actual infant.
The old story says that Nature makes children cute so you don't smother them when they scream. I agree. Eliza has the most radiant smile and laughs when you smile back, but has an inconsolable scream around nap time that makes your head rattle.
Her voice shakes at the end of it and before the next she has to take 2-3 stunted breaths to get enough steam going for the next one.

*sip of wine*

When we finally realized it was her teeth actually breaking through that was causing her pain we went for the old standby teething tablets. They dissolve in the mouth, allowing for temporary relief, at least enough to forget the pain and fall asleep. But even then she can almost make the windows rattle.
Today it was a perfect storm of distractions that seem to all to commonly be in place when that sound comes along.
Morgan is trying to nap so we're keeping the house quiet, Kim and I are working on one of our word puzzles from Tanga and the scream is going full blast. I've been in a few times to check that she has her pacifier, and she does. It's amazing she can move the amount of air she does and the pacifier stays right there. Almost like those covers trumpet players use to get that cool jazzy sound, only Eliza's sounds are not groovy.

I had had enough and sprang up to my feet, marched into the dark room and punched my opposite hand. "Justin!" Kim cried as Morgan had already awakened crying and I already knew that punch in the hand and the ever so brief tingle of pain was all I needed to calm down.
"Please just sleep baby" I tell her as the screaming continues.
"We're out of teething tablets" Kim's voice from earlier today echoes in my head.
30 seconds later I had Eliza in Kim's arms and was out the door to Target to get more teething tablets.
"2 please" I tell the Pharmacist who keeps them behind the counter.
"Will there be anything else?" she asks me, I imagine to ring me up there.
"No, thank you" and I went to the isle I needed.

That's when I learned Target doesn't sell liquor.

So its a glass of wine and some quiet time, but Kim reading the paper next to me and commenting on everything she reads seems like the babbling of a brook (no offense Dear) in comparison.

This too shall pass.

/vent