It also turns out that the man at the resort that was hurt wasn’t who he said he was. And the woman that was with him wasn’t his wife. A little time away with the mistress?

In talking with Dr. Joe and Mary, Dr. Joe had brought something to the surface, something that I’d tried not to think about. What would I be to the twins? A mother, a father, or what? And what were they going to call me?

Ajie had received copies of the first printing of her book. And this put the work on her doctoral degree into high gear. But the twin's arrival will put the breaks on it for a short time. And Ajie’s doctorate being almost complete, put me into gear to work on mine. Maybe not in high gear, but at least into second gear.

And I was pleasantly surprised when I’d received papers from all of my students in my Independent Study in Electrical Engineering classes.

We’d also had a “surprise” baby shower put on by Vickie, Mary, and Jackie that wasn’t a surprise. But we’d been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who were there and what we’d received.

On Sunday morning, I let Ajie sleep in. And I quietly snuck out of bed, took my clothes with me, and went out into the house. After using the powder room, I dressed, then lit the fire that I’d laid last night before we went to bed. I knew that it was supposed to be in the mid-twenties for a low last night with a high in the mid-forties today. And, being adobe, it was reasonably warm in the house. But the fire in the fireplace would take the chill off the whole house.

And with the high in the forties, it will be just warm enough for a nice walk along the river after lunch. We haven’t seen the Eagles for a while, so it’ll be good to see them again.

I went to the bedroom that we were using as an office and retrieved the twenty-eight papers from my independent study classes out of my briefcase. I took the papers out into the big room and set them down next to the couch on the end table. I was going to sit and finish grading the ones that I need to. But, Ajie came out of the bedroom and said, “Good morning, love.”

“Good morning my Queen.”, I replied.

“It looks like you have some grading to do.”

“I still have a few papers to read and grade. I want to finish them today so that I can get them back to my students early next week.”

“So, the grade they get on the paper is the grade that they receive for the class?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s get some breakfast. I want to do something special for dinner, so I want to make a quick run to the grocery store.”

“You pick up the fixings, and I’ll make sangria.”

“We have red wine, brandy, honey, and cinnamon sticks. All we need is the fruit. And I’ll see what they have at the store. And at this time of the year, it may be limited.”

After we’d had breakfast, Ajie ran to the store, and I went back to grading the papers. And so far, so good. The papers from the seven students in the honors section were all outstanding. And most of the papers from the other class were also good. We’ll see what the rest of them are like.

Ajie was back in less than an hour and a half. As I was helping bring in the groceries, Ajie said, “Be happy that we have the red wine and brandy.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“There’s no Sunday liquor sales.”

“I forgot about that.”

“I did too, until all I saw that all of the wine was covered.”

I helped put away the groceries, and I saw what we were having for dinner. Prime rib, sweet potatoes, and asparagus. Yum!

Then I went back to work on my papers, and Ajie started some laundry. By lunchtime, I had finished grading the papers. And I was pleasantly surprised. The lowest grade I gave was a ‘B’, and there were four of them.

I entered the grades in my grade book. Then I went to our home office and got enough envelopes for each paper. I sat at the dining room table and went through the papers, wrote the student's name on the envelope, and put their paper, with the grade written on it, in the envelope. Then I sealed the envelope.

Ajie had all but finished the laundry, so I went and helped her. Then we put together a light lunch. And after lunch, we changed into our winter hiking gear, long pants, wool socks, heavy blouses, hiking boots, and blanket coats. We both had the knits cap and gloves that our mothers had sent us a few years ago, and we may not need them today, but we took them along.

We had found out that there was more access points to the trail along the river. There was even one that was due west of the house. But we preferred the access point that we’d always used. It was the closest one to the islands where the Eagles had a dead tree to land in and visit with us.

Ajie and I headed to our regular parking place in Albuquerque. When we arrived, there were only three other cars there. After all, it was only in the mid-forties today. As we got out of the car, Ajie said, “I’m going to leave the gloves, but wear my knit cap.”

“I think I’ll join you.”, I replied.

We started our walk north along the river, the first island was at about the one-mile point, but it didn't feel right. So we continued north along the river. We reached the bench at the two-mile point and where the other island is. We walked towards the river and the bench. As we sat on the bench, Ajie cuddled close.

It wasn’t long until one of the Eagles showed up and landed in the dead tree on the island. Shortly after that, the other Eagle showed up and joined the first one.

“I wonder if they’re going to breed again?”, Ajie said.

“I hope they do.”, I replied. “And I wonder where the three young ones from this year went?”

“It would be interesting to know.”

The four of us sat there looking at each other for about five minutes, then the two Eagles took off, circled us twice, and headed north.

Ajie and I got up and started walking south. We met another couple walking north. The girl asked, “Did you see those big birds?”

“Yes.”, I said. “We were sitting on a bench, and they flew in and landed in a tree on the island. And when we got up to leave, they left.”

“Any idea what they were?”

“No, no idea. But they were big.”

“Well, thanks. Have a good walk.”

“You too.”

Ajie and I continued our walk. And when we were out of earshot, Ajie said, “Protecting the Eagles.”

“You know it.”, I replied. “But I didn’t feel anything bad with that couple.”

“I could tell that you didn’t.”

We finished our walk and headed home. Tomorrow started exam week, and we both had things to do to get ready for that. After we’d gotten our things ready for the finals that we were giving, we put dinner together. A feast of prime rib, sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar, and asparagus. One of my favorites.

That evening as we were sitting in front of the fireplace cuddled together and enjoying the fire. I said, “You know, the other day when I was grading papers, I got to thinking.”

“Now we’re in trouble.”, Ajie quipped.

I frowned at her and said, “No. Seriously. I was thinking that we need a stereo.”

“A stereo?”

“It would be nice to have some music in here. Like now, when we’re just sitting and relaxing. The university’s FM radio station plays some nice music.”

“I like your idea.”, Ajie said. “What would we need?”

“An amplifier, a tuner, speakers, a turntable, and a cabinet to house it all.”

“So, if we have a turntable, we could buy records of the music that we like to listen to?”

“Of course.”, I said. “Maybe even get a cassette player.”

“Where would we put it?”, Ajie asked.

“We could put the speakers on either side of the fireplace. And then the component cabinet next to one of the speakers.”

“Where do we need to go to get these things.”

“That time we were walking through downtown, I noticed a store that sells all kinds of electronics, and that might be a place to start.”

“A Christmas present to ourselves?”

“Could be.”, I replied.

“When do you want to do this?”, Ajie asked.

“Tomorrow after my last final.”

“When’s that?”

“I have one at eight, and one at ten.”

“So, if I pick you up at noon, we grab lunch, and then we could go shopping.”

“I need to stop in the college’s office after my last exam and drop off the envelopes.”

Monday was the first day of finals week, and my first final was at eight in the morning. So I was on campus before seven-thirty and in my classroom. I gave my two final exams and then headed to the college office. Sara was there, and I asked her if she could do me a favor and put the envelopes in the student's mailboxes. She said she’d do it before three. And I thanked her.

Ajie was outside of the engineering building right on time.

We stopped at the drive-in for lunch. It was cold, so we kept the car running. And, yes, I had my favorite lunch topped off by a ginger ale milkshake. Even Ajie had a ginger ale milkshake.

We then drove downtown, parked in a city lot, and walked down the street to the electronics store. When we walked in, there was a sea of equipment. Ajie and I walked around, looking at everything. Finally, a salesman walked up to us and asked, “Can I help you, ladies?”

“We’re looking for a stereo system.”, I replied. “And I was thinking of a component system.”

The salesman smiled and nodded and then asked, “Do you have a manufacture in mind?”

“Fisher or Scott would be good, and maybe Wharfedale speakers. And a good turntable.”

The salesman took us to a display of stereo amplifiers and showed us the Fisher and Scott models. Each of them had a technical sheet with them, and of course, I took them and looked them over. I noticed the salesman give me a questioning look. Ajie must have seen the look too. Ajie looked at the salesman, pointed at me, and said, “She’s an electrical engineer and is working on her graduate degree.”

The salesman just nodded, yes. I continued looking over the amplifiers and found a couple that I liked. We did the same for the tuners and the cassette decks. Then I asked, “Do you have a demo room where we could listen to these?”

“Yes.”, the salesman said. “And you can switch between different combinations of amps, receivers, and speaker sets.”

“That’s a good set up. Is it an anechoic chamber¹ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber )?”

“Not completely. But there is a lot of sound deadening features in the room.”

We went into the room and listened to various amplifiers, tuners, and speaker combinations until we found what we liked. Ajie and I finally settled on the original Fisher turner and amplifier, and a set of Wharfedale speakers.

We also picked up a turntable. It was a direct drive without an automatic changer, and the tonearm was non-mechanical. In simple words, you only put one record on the turntable at a time, and you have to physically place the tonearm on the record. We also picked up a good needle for the tonearm. And we decided to wait on the cassette deck.

So, now all we needed to find was something to mount the components in. When we’d walked into the store, I’d noticed some cabinets. So we went over to where the cabinets were and looked at them. We found a wood cabinet that we could mount the amplifier and tuner in. It also had storage for records and space for a cassette deck. The back was open to allow for airflow, and it had a plug strip to plug all the components in to. We were going to put the turntable on the top and cover it when it wasn’t in use. We decided to take the amplifier, tuner, and turntable with us. And the store was going to deliver the cabinet and speakers on Wednesday when Ajie was going to be home all day.

I also picked up some good speaker cable. It was a shielded cable. The salesman asked, “Why shielded cable?”

I explained that we lived close to the Sandia Crest and just below all the TV and radio transmitters, so there is a lot of RF² in the area. Then the salesman said, “In that case, you might want to consider some good cables to connect the components.”

He showed us some cables. And we took what we thought we’d need. As the salesman was writing up the sale, he asked how we wanted to pay for it. I told him that I could write him a check for the full amount or pay him cash. He looked at me and said, “With a purchase this large, no one pays cash. They usually charge it or put it on layaway.”

“We’d like to pay for it in full.”, I said.

“Well. Cash would be best. And with a check, I’d have to get an okay from the owner, and he’s not here.”

“How about a cashier’s check?”

“That would work.”

“Okay, our bank is just down the street. I’ll run down there and be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”, the salesman said.

Ajie stayed at the store. I took note of the total on the sales slip and ran to the bank. When I was back, I handed the cashier’s check to the salesman, he thanked me, and wrote, ‘Paid in Full’ on the sales slip.

Then I went to get the car and drove from the parking lot to the front of the store. And the salesman helped us load everything into the car. And we headed home.

Back home, Ajie and I took everything into the house, then we looked at the fireplace, and Ajie asked, “I figure the speakers are going on either side of the fireplace.”

“That’s probably the best place.”, I said. “And with the TV on the left, I figured on putting the component cabinet on the right side.”

“That should work.”

Tuesday was another day of final exams, Ajie had one at ten and one at two. And I had one at nine. So I went into the office at eight, and Dr. Joe was there, and I told him about buying the stereo system. He was interested in what we’d purchased and why, and wanted to see and hear it once it was set up.

It was Wednesday. Ajie had finished with her finals, and I had two more, one at nine in the morning and one at one in the afternoon. And then I’d be done with finals for the quarter. So I was on campus at eight, and I went to the office. Dr. Joe was there, and I asked if he’d like to get together for lunch.

A little after eleven, I walked into the office, and Dr. Joe was sitting behind the work table, and he said, “Call Ajie.”

“Did she say why?”, I asked.

“No, but she sounded a little excited.”

“They must have delivered the cabinet for the stereo and the speakers. I’ll call her after lunch.”

“Give her a call now. I need to finish reading this paper.”

I set my briefcase down, sat at the desk, and picked up the phone and dialed ‘9’ for an outside line. When I got the outside line, I dialed my home number. The phone rang about three times before I heard Ajie say, “Hello, Nez residence.”

“Hi, honey, it’s Kai.”, I said. “What’s up?”

“Oh, honey. You’ll never believe it.”, Ajie said in her excited voice.

“So, tell me.”

“The twins were born last night.”

“Oh, wow! Wonderful. Is everyone okay?”

“Oh, yes. The girl came through the delivery just fine. And so did the babies.”

“And?”, I asked.

“And what?”, Ajie asked.

“Calm down and give me the details.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah. The boy was born Tuesday night at eleven fifty-one. And the girl was born at five after twelve this morning.”

“So, one was born on Tuesday and the other today, Wednesday?”

“Yes, isn’t that cool?”

“Yes, it is. How big were they?

“Tse, the boy, was seventeen and three-quarters inches long and weighed in at six pounds and four ounces, and Haseya, the girl, was sixteen and a half inches long and weighed five pounds and fourteen ounces.”

“Who called you?”, I asked.

“It was Mrs. Biakeddy from the Navajo Children and Family Services.”, Ajie replied. “She just wanted to be sure that they had the correct names for the birth certificates.”

“Did she have them right.”

“Yes. She also said that as soon as they’re sure that the twins are good on the formula that they were giving them, she would let us know what it is so that we can have it on hand when the babies come to us.”

“Did she say when that might be?”

“She said that if everything went good that it would be early next week.”

“So Monday or Tuesday?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it sounds like we need to make some phone calls.”, I said.

“We do, but I’ll wait until you get home.”, Ajie replied.

“I should be home at about three-thirty. Did you remind Mrs. Biakeddy that we were willing to pay for everything for the girl and babies while they were in the hospital?”

“Yes, and she said that she would talk to the girl’s parents.”

“Good. Okay, I’ll see you at three-thirty.”

“Ayóó' áníínísh'ní, Kai Nez - (I love you, Kai Nez). Hágoónee'. - (See you later).”

“Ayóó' áníínísh'ní aldó’, Ajie Nez - (I love you too, Ajie Nez). Hágoónee'. - (See you later).”

As I hung up the phone, I looked over at Dr. Joe. And he was grinning. So I said, “What are you grinning about?”

“Congratulations.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Thanks, boss.”, I replied.

“So, the twins have different birth dates?”

“Yes, they were born about fifteen minutes apart. But one was born yesterday and the other one today.”

“Let me buy you lunch.”

“That I’ll let you do.”

And yes, we went to the drive-in.

I was home at about three-thirty, and as I was driving up our road, I saw the truck from the electronics store going the other way. So, the cabinet for the stereo and the speakers were here.

As I got out of the car, I was attacked. Ajie attacked me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and said, “I love you so much.” And then she kissed me. Boy, what a kiss. It rivaled the one that I’d received the day Ajie came back to Columbus after four years.

When we finally came up for air, I was finally able to say, “I love you too.”

She took my hand and pulled me into the house. And I said, “You are really wound up.”

“You know it, lover. When Mrs. Biakeddy called and told me I was just on cloud nine. I just felt so good.”

“Okay. Settle down and let’s make the phone calls.”

We spent a good hour making phone calls. Ajie’s parents. My parents. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Paul. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Gaagii. Vickie and Jackie, and Mary, Dr. Joe’s wife, here in New Mexico. Then we called our friends back home in Ohio.

When we finished, Ajie said, “I’m glad mom is going to be here on Sunday.”

“You did tell her to bring cold weather clothes. Didn’t you?”, I asked.

“Yes, that was one thing I was sure to tell her to do.”

“She’s going to be a lot of help. Then everyone will be here for Christmas. Your mom goes back home on the twenty-eighth. And then mine stays until the middle of January. This place is going to be a zoo. Plus, we’re going to have to get a Christmas tree and all the trimmings.”

“You’re right it’s going to be crazy for a few days.”, Ajie said. “And did I hear right that Billy and Bridget are coming too?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “Are we going to have to clean out the office and get a bed for it?”

“I don’t think so. I think someone will be using the hogan. Maybe Billy and Bridget.”

“We’ll just have to be sure that there’s plenty of firewood. And, the blanket on that bed in the hogan is a perfect one for out there. It’s going to be the run from the hogan to the house to use the bathroom that could be cold.”

“Plus I guarantee you that your aunts and uncles will be here at least once while your mom is here.”, Ajie added.

“Yeah, but at least they won’t be staying here.”, I said.

“I’d like to get some announcements of some kind to send out once the twins are here.”

“Alright, let’s go to Old Town for dinner, then we can stop at the stationery shop and see if they have what you need.”

“We’d better hit the stationary store first. They may be closed by the time we’re finished with dinner.”

We changed clothes and headed into Old Town. There is a nice stationery shop not far off of Old Town Square, so we parked and walked over to the shop. We spent a little time looking around and couldn’t find what Ajie wanted. Finally, Ajie asked the clerk, “Do you have anything for announcing an adoption?”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”, the lady asks.

“Both.”

“Are they twins?”

“Yes, a boy and a girl.”

“We don’t have anything that covers that. But, we do have something that you could use. If you type up something and put it inside.”

“That’s an idea.”, Ajie said.

The lady took us and showed us a card that on the front simply said, ‘A very special announcement!’ But the way it was printed was very fancy. And there were designs on the front in pink and blue.

As Ajie looked at it, I could see the wheels turning. Then Ajie said, “This will work. We’ll take two dozen of these.”

A little later, we were in the La Placita Dining Rooms enjoying one of their meals, and Ajie was having a sangria while I had a coke. As we ate, I said, “I saw the wheels turning while we were in the stationery store. What were you thinking about?”

“Just a way that we can type up something cute and put it inside.”, Ajie replied.

“I figured that you have it all worked out.”

“I do.”

A little while later, we were home, and Ajie got out a tablet and started working on something to put inside the announcement. I looked over her shoulder, smiled, and said, “That is cute. I like it.”

“I think I can get four of these on a sheet of paper.”, Ajie said. “Then we can make copies, cut them up, sign them, and send them out.”

I looked in the refrigerator and found a fresh pitcher of sangria. I poured Ajie and myself a glass. Then Ajie and I cuddled together in the big room and enjoyed a nice fire and the sangria.

I finally asked Ajie, “Are you happy?”

“Yes and no.”, Ajie replied.

“Yes and no?”

“Yes, I’m happy that I’m here with you. You make me very happy.

“And, no, I can’t wait for the twins to be with us. When they’re here, I’ll be happy.”

“It won’t be much longer.”

“I know. And knowing that and being with you makes it bearable.”

All I can say is, the foot massage that I received that night was beyond amazing.

Thursday morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was cuddled up with the most amazing woman in the world, and what she did last night was out of this world.

We set today aside to finish grading our final exams. And that’s what we did, well almost did. As I was grading exams, I kept glancing at the stereo equipment. Finally, after lunch, I couldn’t resist it any longer, and we decided to install the stereo.

The first thing I did was figure out how to hide the speaker wires that I needed to run from one side of the fireplace to the other. I found that there was a small gap between the stone hearth and the tile floor, and the speaker wire easily slipped into it. The hearth rug would hide it even more.

We placed one speaker on the left side of the fireplace and the other speaker on the right side of the fireplace. And we ran the speaker cables from the speakers to where the components would be. We then placed all the components in and on the cabinet and ran the cables between them and hooked up the speaker wires.

The receiver came with an indoor FM antenna that hooked to the receiver with twin lead. We’ll see how well this works in an adobe house or if we’ll have to do something else. But being as close as we are to some of the transmitters, we shouldn’t have a problem. But we’ll see.

I plugged all the component’s power plugs into the power strip. Then I plugged the power strip into the wall outlet. Nothing blew up—a good thing.

Then I hooked up the speakers to the output of the amplifier. This amplifier could put out one-hundred watts per channel, and the speakers could handle that. But I don’t think our ears could.

I turned on the amplifier, and there was just a little thunk. Not a problem. I turned the volume up on both channels. Then I turned on the receiver, set it to FM stereo reception, and turned the tuning knob. As I tuned across the band, we heard a few stations. I finally tuned the receiver to the universities FM station, KUNM at 89.9, and they were playing some classical music. Not my favorite genre of music. But when studying, I’ve found that some types of classical music can be helpful.

I then adjusted the bass and treble until it sounded good. Ajie and I stepped back behind the couch and just listened for a minute. Ajie then looked at me and said, “It sounds so good. I love it.”

“I do too.”, I said. “And I hear some good channel separation too.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“We’ll just have to find all the stations in the area and see which ones we can hear.”

“We need to get some records too.”

“We’ll do that.”

Ajie went back to grading exams, and I cleaned up the mess that we’d made installing the stereo. I also took all the manuals and put them away in the office. Then I went back to grading my exams.

Since we’d spent time installing the stereo, we didn’t finish grading our exams before dinner. Well, Ajie finished, but I didn’t. I figured I had another two hours of work.

We fixed a quick dinner. Then as Ajie relaxed on the couch in front of the fire, I went back to work on grading my exams. We’ll transfer the grades from our grade books to the grade report that gets turned into the registrar’s office. We’ll double-check each other’s work tomorrow morning and then take them to the register’s office.

As we cuddled together in bed, Ajie said, “Well, are you ready to lose sleep for a while.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“Well, for the first few weeks, the twins will be eating every two to three hours. And of course, when they eat, they’ll also be filling their diapers.”

“I guess we’ll just have to learn to take naps when they’re sleeping. And speaking of diapers. Have you decided on what kind of diapers we’re going to use?”

“I think here at home we’ll use cloth diapers. That’s why we got the diaper pail. And then when we go someplace, like the resort, we’ll use disposable ones.

“And tomorrow, after we drop off our grades, I’d like to stop at the baby store and buy some more cloth diapers and find out what’s the best soap or detergent to use.”

“Didn’t we get any cloth diapers at the shower?”

“One of the diaper trees was cloth diapers. But, I figure with the two of them that we’ll need more.”

“Isn’t that going to be a lot of washing?”

“Yeah. With the two of them, it’ll be a load a day.”

After breakfast on Friday, we sat at the dining room table and double-checked each others work on the grades that were transferred from our grade books to the grade report. When we finished that, we headed to the university and the registrar’s office.

After we’d dropped off our grade reports and were walking back to the car, I said, “So we could go through two dozen diapers a day?”

“Huh.”, Ajie said.

“I was thinking about the diaper thing. And if we change the twins every two hours, each of the twins would go through twelve diapers a day. So that could be twenty-four diapers a day.”

“They could do that.”

“That’s a lot of diapers.”

“It is. And it would mean one load of diapers in the wash every day, not to mention rinsing the diapers. Plus, our laundry.”

I thought for a minute, then said, “Is there such a thing as a diaper cleaning service.”

“Yes.”

“Would that be better?”

“Much better.”

We drove over to the baby store, and we saw the woman that had sold us everything, and she must have remembered us because she said, “Hello again, have the twins arrived yet?”

“They were born last Tuesday and Wednesday, and we should have them Monday or Tuesday.”, Ajie replied.

“Two different birthdays. That’ll be interesting when they’re older. So, what can we do for you today?”

“We do have some cloth diapers. But figured that it might be best to have more.”

“Or find a diaper cleaning service.”. I added.

“We can do both. With twins, a diaper service would be a big help.”, the woman said.

“That’s what we figured.”, Ajie said.

“Come with me, and I’ll show you the information on our diaper service.”

We walked over to the counter with the woman, and she explained the service to us. And since we had two young ones, there would be a discount for the second one.

By the time we left the baby store, we'd signed up for a diaper service that would start on Monday. This coming Monday, they’d drop off two pails and enough cloth diapers for the twins for a week. And the following Monday all we had to do was place the two pails, that the service supplies, with dirty diapers in them on the front porch by Noon and they’d pick those up, and drop off two clean pails and clean diapers.

As we drove home, Ajie said, “Thank you.”

“What did I do?”, I asked.

“Thank you for the diaper service. It will be a lifesaver.”

“I figured that it would.”

And yes, we stopped at the drive-in for lunch.

With Ajie’s mother coming in on Sunday, we decided to get her bedroom ready. There wasn’t much to do. The only things to do were to change the bed linen and put fresh washcloths and towels in the bathroom. So, we did that. Then we figured out that we might as well change the bed linen in the other bedroom and the hogan.

Halfway through doing the work, I remembered the stereo. I went into the big room turned on the stereo, and it was still set to the university’s radio station, and they were playing some folk music. The music went from The Kingston Trio, to Peter, Paul, and Mary, to Joan Baez, to Gordon Lightfoot, to Arlo Guthrie.

We learned that if the doors to the bedrooms were closed, you couldn’t hear the stereo. But if they were open, you could hear it, but just barely. And in the master suite, you couldn’t hear the stereo at all.

While we were in the hogan, we also refilled all of the kerosene lanterns and replenished the wood supply in the firewood rack just outside the door. Then I replenished the firewood supply for the fireplaces in the big room and the master suite, and the fire pit in the back courtyard. There was plenty of wood in the two bedrooms if needed.

Sunset today was at four fifty-six, so no evening walk. Besides, it was cold.

After dinner, Ajie and I built a fire in the big room’s fireplace, I found another good radio station, and we read until bedtime.

Saturday, we woke up to a light dusting of snow. I’ll bet they got some nice snow up on the Crest. Ajie and I then went grocery shopping. With Ajie’s mother being here for a couple of weeks, we needed some extra food in the house. I just wish we knew what formula the twins were on so that we could pick that up too.

Then we spent time setting up our room, the master suite, with things for the twins—the crib, a small chest of drawers, and a bunch of other stuff. Ajie was planning on bundling the babies when they sleep, and we’ll try to keep our room as close to seventy as possible. We might need to have a small fire in the Kiva fireplace from time to time.

Just as we were sitting down to relax for a few minutes, we heard the ding of the driveway sensor. We looked at each other, and I said, “I wonder who that is.”

A few minutes later, we heard the ding-dong of the sensor at the gate in the front courtyard. And Ajie said, “I guess we’re about to find out,”

Just as we were getting up, the doorbell rang. We walked to the front door, and I opened it. Standing there were two delivery men from the big department store downtown. And I said, “Yes.”

“We have a delivery for an Ajie and Kai Nez.”, one of the delivery guys said.

“We didn’t order anything.”

“Lady, all I know is that it goes to this address. Are you either this Ajie or Kai Nez?”

“Yes.”, I said. “I’m Kai Nez.”

As he handed me a clipboard, he pointed to a line and said, “Sign here.”

I took the clipboard and signed it. Then the two men brought the box into the entry hall. And the guy said, “There you go, lady.”

The two men left, and we looked at the box. On the side of it, it said, “The Big Play Pen.”

I read it and said, “Big Play Pen. Who got us this?”

“I don’t know.”, Ajie said.

We took the box into the big room and started to open it, then Ajie noticed an envelope taped to the side of the box. Our names were written on the envelope. Ajie removed the envelope from the box and then opened the envelope. She removed the card from inside, and read it out loud, “To Ajie and Kai. From all of your friends at the U. of New Mexico.”

“Which friends?”, I asked.

“It doesn’t say.”

“We may never know. So who do we thank.”

“We may never know.”

We unpacked the playpen and set it up. It was all wood and would fold up. It had a nice pad for the bottom and some things built into the sides to play with. Once we had it set up, I asked, “Where are we going to put it when we put it up?”

“How about in front of one of the sliding doors from the big room out to the back courtyard.”, Ajie said. “That way, they can see outside.”

“I think that would work.”

“But I don’t think we need to worry about that until they’re a month or two old.”

“Okay. Let’s put it back in the box, and we can store it in the garage until then.”

Sunday morning, we were awoken by the phone ringing. I grabbed the receiver and said, “Hello.”

“Hello, Kai.”, I heard. “This is Ajie’s dad.”

“Oh, hello, Dad Grant. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. I’m just calling to let you know that the plane got off okay.”

“Okay, dad, thanks. We’re looking forward to seeing you at Christmas.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing you too. All four of you. Mrs. Grant’s flight should arrive on time.”

“Okay, dad, thanks.”

I said so long and hung up the phone. And Ajie said, “So, mom’s on her way?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “The flight should be here on time.”

“Good. I’m going back to sleep.”

“I’m awake. I’m going to get up.”

And I did get up. Sunrise was at a little after seven, and it was still dark out, so it was before seven. I got a small fire going in the fireplace, then I looked outside, and we’d had a little more snow. Maybe we will have a white Christmas.

When Ajie was up, and we were eating breakfast, we planned on what we were going to have for dinner once we had Ajie’s mother settled in.

That afternoon, Ajie and I were at the airport about half an hour before her mom’s flight was due. Once we were in the terminal, we walked down the concourse to the gate, sat, and waited.

Then right on time, we saw an airplane taxi up to the gate. They rolled out a set of boarding stairs, and the door opened. We watched as the passengers started to come down the stairs. Ajie was the first to spot her mother, then she said, “Isn’t that your mother with mine?”

I looked closer and said, “It is! Why is she here?”

“I think we’re about to find out.”

We met our mothers at the gate in the fence, and there were all kinds of hugs. Then I asked, “Mom, why are you here?”

“Do you think that I’d miss seeing my grandchildren?”, my mother said.

“How long are you staying?”

“Until you throw me out.”

“Mom!”, I said.

“Just a couple of days.”, my mother said.

“So, you’re going to fly home and turn right around to be back here for Christmas?”

“Sure. I’ve got to go back home and make sure your father makes it out here.”

“Mother!?”

“I’m kidding.”

I shook my head, “Come on. Let’s get your luggage.”

We rescued our mother’s luggage and walked to the car. As we were getting into the car, Ajie’s mother said, “I’m starved.”

“Wasn’t the food on the plane any good, mom.”, Ajie asked.

“No.”

“We haven’t had lunch either.”, I said. “How do hamburgers and fries sound?”

A short time later, we’d finished a tasty lunch at the drive-in and were heading home.

As we pulled up to the house, I stopped at the end of the driveway, got out of the car, checked the mailbox, it was empty. Then I pulled the paper out of the paper box. And as I got back into the car, I handed the paper to Ajie.

Ajie’s mother then said, “You have some snow.”

“Hopefully we’ll have a white Christmas.”, I replied.

“That would make your dad happy.”, my mother said.

We finished driving up the driveway and pulled into the garage. Then we carried our mother’s luggage into the two spare bedrooms. Ajie’s mother then asked, “Can we see what you have set up for the twins?”

“Sure.”, Ajie said as she led us to the master suite. As we walked in, our mothers looked around, and my mother said, “It looks like you have everything in place.”

“I hope we do.”, Ajie said.

“I don't see many diapers.”, Ajie’s mother said.

“They’ll be here Monday. We set up a diaper service.”

“Why? You have a washing machine and a dryer.”

“True. But we figured that each of the twins might use ten diapers a day. That’s twenty between them every day or one-hundred and forty diapers every week. That’s a lot of washing. The diaper service will pick them up every Monday and drop off clean ones.”

“That’s got to be expensive.”, Ajie’s mom said.

“It’s not bad.”, Ajie replied. “Besides, it saves wear and tear on the washer and dryer, and on us.”

“Good points, daughter.”

My mother then asked, “Are you sure the twins sleeping in the room with you is a good thing.”

“Mom.”, Ajie said. “After we heard that, I did some reading on it, and it is supposed to help them adjust to being out in the big bad world. Besides, they hear us sleeping, and it helps them sleep. I also talked to the doctor who we’re going to use a pediatrician, and she said that the research is showing that sleeping with the parents for about six months is a real help.”

We finally adjourned to the big room and talked about what had been happening with us. And when we told them that we were about ready to present our dissertations, they were surprised. We told them that we were pushed along by our friends. But that we both felt that we were ready.

Then I said, “Mom, you really surprised us when we saw you coming down that stairway.”

“I wanted to surprise you.”, my mother said.

“That you did. But you’ll back out here in less than ten days.”

“I know. And like I said, I wanted to meet my grandchildren.”

I shook my head, then said, “I’m not surprised.”

The four of us put together a nice dinner, then sat at the dining room table and enjoyed it. It was nice to have some good background music.

My mother-in-law made coffee for herself and my mom, and we again sat in the big room and talked. Both of them were yawning by nine local time and headed off to bed shortly afterward.

As Ajie and I cleaned up the kitchen, I asked, “Do we need to go to the grocery store again?”

“We should.”, Ajie said. “But let’s wait until we know what formula the twins will need.”