Green Flash

I fell asleep the night before right after dinner and close to 730pm. I slept soundly until about 230am, but soon after that I tossed and turned until eventually rolling out of bed at or near 530am. While the morning coffee brewed, I completed my sit-ups and push-ups with some internet time sandwiched in between. I checked the temperature. It was 43 degrees. Out the window I saw that it was clearing overhead. A lovely early spring day appeared to be on tap. I sipped coffee and played on the internet until 610am and time to wake Mindy. I turned the heat up before taking her coffee. Returning downstairs, I moved to meditation and stretching ensuring myself plenty of time for both. And both went really well. I felt good mentally and physically, although my calves still felt a tad stiff from last Sunday’s run. I hit the streets at 635am. It was totally dark, but with a hint of daybreak dancing on the horizon. I ran the usual four miles. By the time I was back at home it was daybreak, although still no sunrise. That would be a while yet. Mindy was still in the process of making our eggs, scrambled today. I helped stirred the eggs while she put the finishing touches on Bella’s cereal and poured the two of us juice. Bella was in a better mood. Mindy reminded her that her daddy (Jimaken) would be getting her off the bus. We didn’t discuss our dinner plans, but figured we’d get around to it later in the day. I was out of the shower and dressed about five minutes ahead of schedule. I took my time readying for the bus stop. Kenny met us there. We talked about his fast approaching Florida golf trip - Thursday 6am departure. Lucky him! He called looking for a golf club travel bag the night before. I don’t have one. Off to work at 810am. I noticed a crack in my windshield about 3 inches long starting down by my wipers. My heart sunk. This is the fourth time that my windshield has cracked in ten years. Good grief! I was hopeful that it wouldn’t continue to grow. It didn’t, at least during my drive in to work. I enjoyed my walk from the Trooper into the building, shrugging off the cracked windshield. After all, what good would fretting over it do? Nothing! My work day went better than Monday’s – not quite the same frenetic pace. I contacted Dr Beran’s office and scheduled my Lasik procedure for Thursday of next week. I was happy to finally have it planned and scheduled. I sent an email to Mindy so she can schedule the time off, too. She’ll need to drive me home afterwards, and possibly back again the next morning for the post op evaluation. However, they advised that more often than not the patient’s vision is fully restored by the following morning. In that case I will drive myself, and hopefully without glasses. I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t take a formal lunch break but did eat my veggies drenched in raspberry vinaigrette. They were yummy. I had a customer meeting and interview that consumed most of my afternoon. That made the second half of the day fly by. Mindy phoned after school. And since Jimaken was fetching the kids from the bus she decided to take her Honda in for an oil change. I shared the news about my eye surgery. It was apparent that she hadn’t read my email yet. I suggested that she ask the Honda dealership about replacing the mirror broke during my accident on Super Bowl Sunday, and also about fixing the heating problem. She said she would. She called me back a few minutes later with the quote on the mirror - $250 for part + 30 minutes of labor. That’s about what I expected. She made plans to have the heat checked/fixed at the same time they replace the mirror, the first week of April. It was 530pm in a hurry. I didn’t get out of the office until 540pm. We never did nail down dinner plans. I arrived home by 6pm. We quickly agreed on Barley’s. I wanted/needed to brush my teeth first. We weren’t home long. By 615pm, we were on the road. I shared a couple work related stories with Mindy – one really bugged me. Regrettably, I can’t discuss details here. As we walked inside, I shared the story about Bella glaring at me for hugging Makayla. Mindy got a big laugh out of it. The bar was unusually crowded for a Tuesday – all the bar seats taken, we grabbed a barside table instead. I was pleased to see West Coast Green Flash IPA on tap. I ordered one of those. Mindy went with St Joan’s Revenge – her favorite stout. Not long after our beers arrived, two bar stool freed up. We took them, then ordered food. Mindy went with their half chicken and greens. I went more pub-like and ordered a brisket quesadilla. Our food was there in a hurry. During dinner we discussed a number of things including her mother’s mean/angry comments from Friday evening’s euchre gathering that were directed towards me, and then how we might handle this recurring problem. It isn’t acceptable, that’s for sure. We both offered up some root issues as the likely cause – some dating back to her young adult life. We ended that part of our conversation unsettled on an action plan. I had a second Green Flash. We talked with Diedra about her fast approaching cruise with Beth. Diedra’s dropped 55-60 lbs in the last six months. She looks really good and is very proud of herself. She should be. We also chatted with a guy we see there all the time, but have never formally met. He shared some intimate information about his former wife, who passed away some nine years ago. I picked up the check. Mindy drove home. We weren’t home long before the kids returned. Mindy insisted the kids ready for bed right away. Bella cited being hungry. I promised to pop popcorn after she got into her PJ’s. She cried that her momma was making her get right into bed. I knew Mindy would cave for the popcorn, however. I promised Bella I would talk to her. After both kids were tucked in I popped the corn and waited for her sniffer to pick-up the scent. It didn’t take long at all. She came to the balcony and asked if she could come down for some. Yes. Mindy didn’t mind. Jacob soon followed. We ate popcorn and watched The Science Channel together – a program about Pluto and then one about the sun. Both were good. Mindy chased the kids to bed at 9pm and then headed up herself shortly after – about 913pm. I stayed up watching the program about the sun. Next thing I knew it was 10pm. I secured the home and headed for bed.