Jam

Making jam when 8 months pregnant, working full time, no air conditioner, and it's 98 degrees at 9:00 at night is not a good idea. 

Let me elaborate.

It was 1993.  I was pregnant with The Teenager.  It was September and it was HOT!  That is one thing I miss about Idaho, it at least cools down at night there.  Here it just stays hot!  The particular night in question, it was 9:00 and still 98 degrees.  We had a 2 level apartment with a swamp cooler.  It didn't work all that well, and swamp coolers don't work when it's hot.  Just when it's warm.

The Doctor and I were both working full time and I would come home exhausted!  We had 2 bathrooms and when we got home, we would each hit one to do our business.  The Doctor would have to come in the bathroom and wake me up because I would fall asleep on the toilet. 

Some neighbors had a plum tree that had the most delicious plums, and they let us pick as many as we wanted.  So The Doctor had the idea to make jam.  And he decided this particular night that it had to be done that night.  I was less than thrilled, but he insisted.  So we started the jam.

It was before I learned to do freezer jam, so we were cooking it on the stove.  Come to think of it, this experience is the reason I don't do cooked jam!  Well, when jam starts to boil, it splatters.  And it's hot.

So there I am, tired, hot, pregnant, and mad that I have to make jam.  And then it splatters on me.  I freaked out and was yelling and crying and The Doctor was yelling and I told him to get out.

And he did.

He walked out and left me to finish the jam.  It was our first fight.  I had never yelled at him before.  I finished the jam and soon he came back.  We apologized to each other and we were okay, but it was bad at the time.

The lesson to be learned?  When you are pregnant and hot and tired, don't make jam!  And don't yell at your husband.  Nothing good comes from that.