Wednesday, but sorta Thursday

The early morning wasn’t as bright as Tuesday, but it still was nice and even a bit warmer! I rolled out of bed feeling completely rested at 5:30am sharp. As I alluded to yesterday, I am back in my groove. I progressed through my routine with little difference from the days prior. I did manage to play around a bit longer than usual before showering, but then again, I wasn’t in any rush. Again, intuition kicked in. As I left the shower I had a funny feeling that my dad would be stopping by. After wrapping in my towel and going to the window, there he was getting out of his mini-van. I can always feel it when he’s coming over. And it’s not like he does it a lot. Although, with both of us traveling over the next few days, I guess because I kind of know the way his mind works, I expected a last minute visit. Still, I think there’s a deeper connection there. In fact, I know it! Dad brought his yearbooks from Central High School (’52, ’53, and ’54). He remembered me saying that Mindy’s mother went to Central and that she was just a year older than he. So, he brought the books to see if we could find her. We couldn’t identify her in any of the three but given that she left town for Texas after her junior year (1952) she wouldn’t have been in the ’53 graduation year book. The ’52 had only the juniors in a group photo without names attached. This also served as a trip down memory lane for father. As he often does, his stories take off on wild tangents. Before long, were talking about Townsend, his trip to Florida, my mother’s spendy ways, and Trowbridge. J He reported that Sheila had her first interview at Nationwide and is looking forward to progressing forward. Seems she’s set on making the career change. We visited for about an hour. Before he left we nailed down plans for taking Mindy and I to the airport. Also, I gave him Uncle Kenny’s Xmas gift that I had been toting around in my Trooper since, well, Christmas. I had planned to mail it but since he’s going down there Monday, hey, what the heck! He left around 8:15am. After dad left, I finished getting ready for work. As I often do, I played a little guitar before heading out. The drive to work was uneventful. And my work morning was much the same – busy, but uneventful. Soon it was run time. I was about 54 degrees when I departed for the trail. I dressed in two light layers – a dri-fit shirt and a dri-fit pull over. That combo was ideal for the weather. Because I didn’t wear my fleece headband over my ears, my MP3 player headphones were jiggling and bouncing loose the entire run, probably because of my unusually large and protruding ears. Hey, can’t dance! The MP3 player went on the fritz 2/3 into the run. It’s done that a number of times over the past year, although I am always able to revive it for the next day. After my run I headed back to work. Mindy had emailed letting me know that she did finally get her roses and that they were beautiful. She did mention that 3 of them were broken. Figures! Probably won’t do the delivery thing again! But, as Mindy often does, she made lemonade out of lemons. Because she had parent conferences, and was dressed up, she pinned one of the broken roses to her jacket like a corsage. The afternoon breezed by and before I knew it the day was done. It was time for me to head home and get to packing for our trip! I made a quick stop at the bank to deposit three checks I had accumulated over the past month or so, and to grab some cash. I was home by 5:35pm I promised my self that I wouldn’t allow stress to overcome me. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I have a tendency to do just that, especially when I have self-imposed deadlines and a not so clear action plan. I am a perfectionist and it’s never clearer than when I a prepping for a trip. Even the most precise list gets altered to include numerous little things to help make things go much smoother. I begin to worry about this and that, and before you know I have spun completely out of control. All in all, I did pretty well keeping my cool. A couple of times I had to remind myself that it would be OK and that if I just stayed on task it would work out. It always does! It’s always a job to pack efficiently, too. You know, what do you want to have at your side in the event that there’s a weather delay? Plus, as I age, I find I need more things. I’ve got to have my, glasses, meds, vitamins, hair gel, cologne, cards, books, music, movies, snacks, etc. The list goes on and on. And I can’t forget about my running clothes/gear. I used to insist on carrying it on-board in case we got stranded and I needed to run from the airport. But now I pack it with everything else. If push came to shove, I’d run in my causal shoes and in street clothes. There’s no doubt about it! Too, I had yet to make pick-up arrangements for Tuesday night. I though t that I should stop packing and make a call or tow to line up transportation home form the airport. I called brother Bob. He wasn’t home but his wife, April was. She said that she was sure Bob would be happy to do it. I was grateful and sent my travel itinerary via email. Another thing off the list! Next I had to compile a To Do list for Ashley who would be watching m house and Ykraps Sunday, Monday, Tuesday after Dad leaves for Florida. This would be the first time I have asked one of my girls to do the duty. Scary!!!! Mindy showed up a little after 8:00pm, which was a nice break from the task at hand. She didn’t stay long, however. While she was there, Ashley stopped in to review the to-do list and to pick-up the key. Mindy left before 9:00pm. I finished packing a few more things then began my wind down process. As it currently stood, I had only a few remaining tasks to complete the following morning. If my plan was correct, I would be able to leave the house for work, only to come home tomorrow afternoon to do a couple minor tasks and to load our gear into dad’s vehicle. You’ll notice there was no mention of dinner. I did manage to woof down two bags of popcorn – the first share with Mindy. By 9:50pm, I was in bed reading and falling asleep.