Necessity is the Mother of Invention
{by Jessica from Balancing Everything}
I was certain the unbearable desert heat was actually pressing in on my little car as I drove home from work. It felt thick to drive through, too thick to breathe, heavy with the weight of impending rain and the coming monsoons. I peered at the blue sky through my windshield. Not a cloud in sight. I killed the ignition, and swung my legs out of the comfort of the air conditioned car, my green bowl positioned on my lap. I was six months pregnant and still throwing up a dozen times a day.
A wave of nausea rolled through me as the Arizona heat hit me like a brick wall. I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the still cool seat belt strap. I’d already had to pull over twice on the 202 to vomit on the side of the road; surely even my stomach couldn’t find anything else to reject. I bit back the almost automatic dry heaving and focused on getting out of the car. Hoisting two grocery sacks, I trudged up the three flights of stairs and let myself into our tiny apartment.
My husband was there, sitting on the couch, still wearing his concrete covered work clothes. I stood stupidly in the doorway, surprised to see him home so early. His eyes moved from my growing belly to my face.
“I got laid off today.”
The next month was insane. The monsoons came and rattled the windows and sent desert sand swirling away in muddy streams across sidewalks and down gutters. My husband worked when he could, begging for freelance cement jobs while he argued with his old employer about severance pay. He lined up jobs to help us pad our meager savings and I packed our little apartment, sold furniture, sorted out a replacement for the nanny job I had, and threw up every five minutes.
