Coffee break?

I might not get to coffee. I've been planning on what to post today all morning. Nothing earth shattering or world changing but I was looking forward to Munchkin finally taking a nap so I could get it out of my head before it got lost. Then I remembered Shane asked me to look up Malachi's social security number. I don't know if we got the card or not, but we can't seem to find one. But the website says something about getting an existing number  over the phone if you have the parents numbers. So after my first coffee I got brave and dialed the 1-800 number.

I spent  10 min  choosing options I thought would get me to the person I needed to talk to and then realized  I wasn't going to find one. So  rather than continuing to believe their lies and false hopes of "I can help you with that' and going further  down the rabbit hole , I made my way back to the main menu and got in line to talk someone. Actually, I made my request to the computer and she was so confused she had to admit she could not help me but maybe, just maybe, a real live person could. Probably not, but if I were willing to try she could put me on hold. I think she is related to the hand free phone in my car. A distant cousin or something.

So I put the phone on speaker and waited. I should have made coffee. I did eat my breakfast. The kids complained about the lousy music so I finally had  to take the phone into the library. Every once in awhile the computer would interrupt the song-without-a-melody to tell me that Social Security services over 15 million people. All of whom seemed to have gotten in line before me and I should get a snack and make myself comfortable. Seriously, it was 29 min before someone picked up. And that did not include the first 10 min of meandering through useless menus.

All that to be told- in 30 seconds or less, that the woman who finally picked up was  not authorized to give out numbers over the phone. Or even tell me if I go to the office that there is a number for him already. And if there is not I need something official with his birth date on it. We have not ordered a copy of his birth certificate yet- that will take a couple weeks-and his insurance card does not have his birth date on it, just his name. So unless he is already on file it will be a waste of more time to go as I won't even be able to start the process.

All that to say I feel like I've had my life blood and energy sucked out of me and have to recover before I can write what I was wanting to. No, nothing flowery about Valentine's Day. Personally, I have always been disappointed with the feast day and how it is 'celebrated' these days. And that was after I had the sweetest of valentines to celebrate it with. Fortunately Shane and I are on the same page and both think a it little contrived- by Hallmark, florists, and probably the whatever the group was in the Davinci Code. I did watch it because I wanted to see how ridiculous Tom Hanks could get. And if it could be worse than his performance in The Terminal(ly Ill).  So we don't buy card for each other or do anything out of the ordinary. We both feel everyday is an opportunity to say I love you and nothing communicates undying devotion like rubbing someones back for hours to combat back labor pains or getting up at o'dark thirty every day so the ones you love can have a home and food and comfort. Or all things I do for him. Like laundry. Dinner most nights. Remembering to  decant the wine before he gets home. Ok. His contributions sound a little more contributory that mine on paper. But I did have to do the morning sickness and the pushing. And its not a contest so who are you to judge?

That's not to say you can't have both laundry and valentines together. Hallmark should come out with cards saying thank you for taking care of my dirty socks. it means the world to me. But then, on principle, I  migh feel compelled to stop doing laundry to protest the commercialization of it.  So don't tell them I said that.