A 4-Day Work Week, Beer & Reuben's

Come Thursday, I was back on track waking at 515a. It was cloudy and 30 degrees. The day's high wasn't expected to reach must past 42 - your typical November day. I completed morning calisthenics then enjoyed some coffee. Because I was up 15 minutes early, I was able to more fully savor the coffee and internet time. Frankie and I headed outside around 545a. It took a while but she eventually did both. The ground was covered in thick frost. In fact, I had to be careful walking off the deck as it was coated in frost too. It can be dangerously slippery under such conditions. I spent the next 15 minutes in meditation. At the start, I had lots of things weighing on my mind, but for the most part did an OK job of refocusing my energy elsewhere. I broke off to stretch come 612a. Stretching went really well. I can't believe I went so many years without much, if any, stretching ahead of my runs. It's like medicine. I delivered Mindy's coffee along with the pug at 622a. Mindy was still in bed, and Frankie was excited about joining her there. Mindy sounded groggy from her head cold. I was cautious with closeness for not wanting to inherit her cold germs any more than I already had. Back downstairs, I dressed for my run wearing light winter running attire. I was out the door between 625-630a. Off I went. I ran the full 4.1 miles without any trouble. Somewhere near the 3 mile mark I snapped out of a deep thought pattern and could hardly believe that I was that far into my run. I guess you could say that I was there but not. As home neared, I knew what I wanted to do. I retrieved Mindy's Honda keys as well as those to the Trooper. I started the Honda then went to the Trooper to fetch one of my Deepak CD's. I put it in Mindy's player and hit play. I considered the act a gift of sorts. His insightful wisdom on finding peace and happiness within is priceless. I headed inside for breakfast where Jacob was just finishing his chocolate milk. For the first time in awhile, Bella passed on eggs and went with toast instead. Mindy & I split the cheese covered scrambled eggs. Mindy left near her usual time. As far as I knew, this would be a normal schedule day - kids get off the bus at home, Mindy home from school on time. Nothing out of the ordinary. I headed for a shower around 730a. As the sky brightened, I could see that it was foggy. The kids and I reconvened in the kitchen around 750a. I threw together a few things for lunch then headed out with the kids. Chrissy & I talked for a while, almost exclusively about Lindsey & the boys. Obviously, the entire drama is weighing heavily on my mind. The bus swooped up the kids, and Frankie and I headed back towards home. I left her frolic in the front yard for a few before heading back inside. Can't recall if she went again. I left for work at 815a. I parked out front near 830a. Relatively speaking, it was an easy day. I had a 1pm conference call I had to plan my day around. Otherwise, it was business as usual. Like most days, I didn't plan to go anywhere at lunch. I called ex Kelly before noon and talked for a while about Lindsey's situation. I didn't hear from Mindy until her school day ended. We briefly discussed my conversation with Kelly and our plans to dine at Barley's. After all, this was a Jimaken evening and also my Friday night. Wahoo! Mindy shared that she might take Friday as a sick day due to her cold kicking her butt. I hoped to golf on Friday. Supposed to be sunny and in the 50's. I wrapped up my work day just slightly ahead of 530p. I was pleased to see that gas prices were down again. Not only that, but the stock market was up - from a financial perspective, a banner day indeed. As expected, the house was quiet. We left for Barley's around 615p after taking care of a few small tasks. Amongst them, Mindy working on sub plans for Friday. We arrived at Barley's near 630p. The plan all along was to get a barside table so we could talk with some element of privacy, the topic being our position on taking the boys. I ordered a Xmas ale while Mindy went with a Russian. We sipped our beers while talking through the issue at hand. We didn't order food for the first half hour or so - rare for Mindy. On Janet's 3rd pass, we ordered food, me their special - a reuben - and Mindy their chicken tenders. I ordered a second beer, a Centennial. The food was delicious and the beer good. We never came to full resolution relative to the boys, but did agree that we really didn't need to be forced into a hasty decision just because Kelly & Lindsey have escalated the matter as urgent/emergency. That made perfect sense. While at Barley's we bought twin brothers a beer after they let us know it was their 47th birthday. Can't recall their names but we see them there often. We left for home around 750a. I paid the tab. The kids called Mindy's cell as we neared the subdivision. It was a couple minutes after 8p. We figured they might be sitting out front with Jimaken and they were. After a quick hand-off we were all inside. There was an NFL game on but we don't get the NFL network so we couldn't watch. I tuned the TV to the Science Channel but watched only passively. Can't even recall the program. Mindy headed to bed around 930p but still didn't have a sub snatch up her opening. Said she'd be going to school if it remained unclaimed come morning. I stayed up a while longer luxuriating from the sofa. I joined her in bed around 1030p.