Bikes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Stitches

Last Monday, June 1st, Tomkin biked to the office. He was feeling a renewed excitement about riding, especially since I had just gotten my new bike. I shopped at Target, worked, cleaned, and picked up my aforementioned bike from the shop. I absolutely love it! We took Chloe for a walk, and that night we had our last swing dance class. It was such a ball--we're hoping to take another class later this year. Now we need to get out dancing!
Tuesday morning I had my six-month check-up at the dentist. I love the hygienist at this place--she's got me flossing my teeth more regularly than I ever have before! I got a clean bill of health and now have a clean set of chompers. Good for another six months! Tomkin had a meeting with a couple, and then we had lunch together. He was planning to bike to the office, so I biked down Summit Ave. with him. Have I mentioned that I love my new bike?! What a difference from the old one. When we got to the end of Summit, he headed to work, and I headed home. I spent the afternoon working on the front porch. Tomkin sent me a text message (as usual) to let me know that he was on his way home. It seemed to be taking longer than usual. Eventually I heard the front door open and Tomkin talking to someone. He introduced me to this woman named Pat, and at first I was irritated because I thought she was trying to sell something. Then she said she was an EMT, and I noticed that Tomkin was bleeding (and, frankly, seemed a little dazed). It turned out that on Tomkin's way home, he had hit a pothole while switching gears, and his bike flipped. He went down so hard that his helmet cracked, and he landed on the laptop in his backpack (which, amazingly, is still working fine! Macs rock!). Pat, the EMT, wasn't actually on her shift--she just happened to be driving by, saw Tomkin, put his bike in her van, and drove him home. She pointed out the gashes on the back of his right leg (caused by the sprockets that hold the bike chain in place) and said that he needed to go get stitches. She also told me what to watch for in case of head injury. Wow, was that all rather shocking! I was just so thankful that he seemed to be okay. He worked on cleaning up his wounds, and I called around to find an urgent care unit, then packed up some sandwiches and magazines (not knowing how long we'd have to wait). We headed to an urgent care facility in the Como area, and thankfully we only had to wait about half an hour to get in. The nurse was really sweet and friendly. She gave Tomkin a tetanus shot and cleaned out his wounds a little more (the gash on his leg and the big scrape on his elbow--other than that, he pretty much just had a variety of bruises). The doctor came in and did the stitches; there were ten in all. Tomkin said the worst part was when she injected the novacaine into the wounds. He had to keep reminding me not to look--he could see the horrified look on my face! All-in-all, the trip to urgent care went surprisingly well. And I was amazed that Tomkin wasn't in more pain. We were supposed to go to a Guthrie show that night, but since it already looked like we weren't going to make it, I offered to take him out for dinner at Shish. (He thought he should go home and cook! Silly.) After we got home, we took Chloe for a walk. Then we just relaxed at home. What a day!
When we got up on Wednesday, I was afraid that Tomkin might be really sore from his fall, but he said he felt surprisingly good. He was a little stiff and sore, but not too bad.In fact, he headed back to his folks' house to finish painting the windowsills and then went into the office. I worked at home in the morning and had a premarital counseling session in the afternoon. We took Chloe for a walk, and that evening I had another PMC session and then talked to Mom. Tomkin brought Chloe over to Tracy's house so that she could play with Wilbur (whom she loves), and the guys went to see the movie "Angels and Demons."
On Thursday, Tomkin and I went to the Twins-Indians game at the Metrodome! I'd never been to a Twins game before, and next year they'll be in a new ballfield. Tomkin's parents had won the tickets through their church, and they gave them to us. We had great seats (26th row behind home plate), and it was an exciting game. The Twins started off with a bang and didn't let up! We ate nachos and peanuts, and I had a malt cup and a beer. Ugh. Hey, that's part of going to a ballgame, though, right? We came home and took a nap, and that evening I had a PMC session, and Tomkin performed a ring-blessing ceremony. We walked Chloe afterward and had a really lovely evening--chatted with some neighbors, Chloe got to play with some of her doggy friends, and we got some iced coffee at Caribou. It was a beautiful summer evening, and it made us really thankful to live where we do.

Yesterday (Friday), Tomkin was interviewed by MPR--they're going to be doing a web piece about him and his gig as a minister. I'll be sure to let you know when it's available! (They're sending a photographer to a wedding he's officiating next weekend, so it'll be sometime after that.) He spent the afternoon at his office, then had a wedding rehearsal. I biked to the YWCA, went swimming, then ran some errands. I worked on the front porch with Chloe and got caught up on my current editing assignments. After dinner, we walked Chloe, and by then we were both pretty tired. So we all curled up on the couch and watched a little TV.
Today we slept in, and then we ran some errands. Tomkin is researching bikes, trying to decide if he should get his old one fixed or just get a new one (or a new used one). We went to a nearby bike store and asked a bunch of questions. Unfortunately, it was raining (it rained ALL DAY), so Tomkin couldn't do any test drives. (I bought a rearview mirror for my bike and a reflective leg strap. Since Tomkin's accident, I'm more safety-conscious than ever.) The rain also meant that we couldn't play tennis as we'd planned to, nor were we able to go for a walk. I actually spent much of my day blogging. But at least now I'm caught up! Yay!!! Tomkin officiated a wedding, and then after dinner we went to see the movie "Up." Thankfully, although the theater was packed with kids, most of them kept pretty quiet. We, however, were sobbing like babies. Tomkin gave the film a pretty mixed review--it was a little too surreal for his taste. I liked it more than he did and found it very touching overall. In fact, there were a LOT of messages in the movie (maybe too many). My favorite character was Doug the dog--he made me miss Chloe! After the show, we went to the Tea Source a couple doors down from the theater. It's so cold and rainy out, it was nice to have some hot tea. Now we're home, all three of us on the couch, Tomkin and I both typing away on our laptops. Right now it really feels to me like life couldn't get much better.