Washington, Lincoln, Clinton ... and all the rest

Returning to work wasn’t the most exciting event to come along, but it was necessary and inevitable. This was President’s Day, so Mindy & the kids were on holiday from school. I wasn’t so fortunate. I was awake at 5:30am and fully engaged in exercise. By 5:45am I was outside with Ykraps. It was moderately chilly – about20 degrees - certainly nothing I couldn’t handle. Because I didn’t have to wake Mindy, I was able to play, relax, and meditate in leisure. I didn’t leave for my run until 6:50am. There were clear skies, so the amount of daylight at my runs outset was abundant. I realized during my run that we’re just three short weeks (20-days) away from day lights davings time, which will cast my run back into total darkness for a good month or so. I finished my run without incident. Back home, I ate a quick breakfast that Mindy prepared. She and the kids were up and at it. But then again, why wouldn’t they? It was after 7:30am. They rarely sleep beyond 7am. I left for work a little after 8am. There was next to no traffic, the holiday the apparent cause . Work was like usual. Nothing jumps out of significant interest. I did take a ‘real’ lunch break to run a couple errands in preparation for our coming ski trip. I drove to the Anderson’s to fetch some ski trail snacks and some Hoppin' Frog Silky Porter for Mindy. While at the Anderson's I ran into Art, an old Time Warner boss, who's since retired and working two days a week at the Anderson's as a greeter. Seeing Art reminded me of John Vidosh and wanting to call him. I called John on my way to Kroger. Still seeking employment. I popped in Kroger quickly and picked up a bottle of Goldschlager.

Mindy called mid-afternoon, said she took Jacob & Landon for hair cuts and then all four kids to McDonald’s for lunch. Brave or crazy? She also reported an incident involving Rocky & Bella. Let's just say that we won't be allowing them to sneak off by themsleves in the future without supervision. She said we’d most likely be having burgers for dinner. She invited my dad, too, who was leaving for Florida the following day. As luck would have it, I ended up engaged in a complex work related matter until 7pm. I felt obligated to get it on track before leaving for home. Mindy and company enjoyed their dinner without me. I kept her abreast of my situation at work from the outset. She kept my burger warm. I asked dad if he was excited about his trip. In typical dad fashion he said not, at least not in the giddy sense. He shared sobering news about Uncle Kenny, who was in the hospital after experiencing chest pains and then driving himself to the local firehouse. Kenny made arrangements for one of his close Florida buddies to retrieve dad from the airport. Wow! Dad stayed until just after 8pm. The evening fly by, mostly due to my late arrival home. After dad left I spent my remaining waking hours packing for Wednesday morning’s trip. Before relaxing, I had pretty much my entire trip’s wardrobe laid out save for running clothes, which I planned to launder after finishing Tuesday’s run. We watched a History Channel program about the assassination of Julius Caesar, and how he may have plotted to help his assassins along. To bed sometime after 10pm.