Middle of the Night

I woke initially around 130am. I tried going right back to sleep but couldn’t. Around 230am, with my mind racing about home and work, I got up and headed downstairs to my computer to do some reading in an effort to relax my mind and help bring on sleep. It worked flawlessly. By 320am I was once again very sleepy and able to head back to bed.

But then, as often happens after getting up middle of the night, I overslept, and this time by almost 30 minutes. That was after trying unsuccessfully to slip in another 5-10 minutes after waking around 520am. My head was in a fog, and I really wanted nothing more than perhaps another hour of sleep, the same hour I lost in the middle of the night. I could smell fresh coffee. Yum! That helped drag me out of bed.

I headed downstairs where I glanced out back to see that it was raining. I then whipped out 50 sit-ups before moving on to stretching. By the time stretching was completed it was 615am. I poured two cups of coffee, one for me and one for Mindy. I left mine sit until I returned from delivering hers.

My head was still foggy. It wasn’t until I sucked down some coffee and completed my stretch routine that it cleared. Even though I was in a bit of a time crunch, I still did a very abbreviated meditation, believing it a crucial step in ensuring a fun, successful day.

I wasn’t looking forward to running in the rain, but knew I had to. It was 59 degrees, but with the rain I figured I should plan on an extra layer. I opted for a thin long-sleeved wicking shirt and my pullover fleece. I headed out the door at 645am – comparatively late. To help get back on track, I decided early on that I would cut my run from 4.1 to 3 miles. I hate to do that, but figured I needed to this time. That would get me back home  near the usual time. The trash truck had already been by as I headed out.

I got back around 712am. It was still raining. I drug the empty trash can to its resting place and then headed around to the deck to hopefully enter through the back. Mindy unlocked the door with a beach towel in hand. But since it was raining and I was already soaked, I asked for Eiknarf and her leash. Figured no reason for anyone else to get soaked. I walked Eiknarf in the rain. She took care of business in record time. She was anxious to get back inside and have breakfast, and so was I.

Had fried eggs. Saved some for Eiknarf too. Mindy used my umbrella to go to her car to get her own. It was raining at a pretty good clip. Mindy left near 730am and I ran off to the shower.

I dressed nice, this being a customer site work day. I was back downstairs making last minute preparations by 755am. Lindsey didn’t arrived until a couple minutes after 8am. Since it was raining and Eiknarf was out and took care of business earlier, I didn’t plan to take her to the bus stop with us. Jacob headed out without concern for the rain. Bella and Lindsey hung out under my umbrella. Bella apparently lost hers. Nothing new!

We waited for quite a while. Lindsey began to stress about being late for work. I only offered that my first priority was getting the kids on the bus even though Chrissy offered to wait with them all. It was raining hard enough that I opted to head back to the house and wait in the garage. Chrissy and her girls came along too. The bus finally arrived close to 825am, or about ten minutes late.

Lindsey and I headed off in a hurry. Because of the rain, traffic was slower than usual. However, despite the inclement weather and the bus being slow, we still arrived at Lindsey’s place of work at 849am. According to Lindsey, they want her there by 845am. Hey, did my best!

I headed on around 270 to my customer’s location not arriving in their lot until about 910am. And it was another 20 minutes or so before I was at my desk and getting logged in.

The morning was fairly relaxed. My boss agreed to come by and spend his afternoon at the customer’s location too. He must’ve arrived around 1pm, or 30 minutes before we were scheduled to meet with their director.  That meeting got delayed for 20 minutes or so. ON top of all this, there was a big Blackberry outage impacting most of the east coast wreaking havoc on those completely reliant on wireless email and such. I was online via lan connectivity.

I am happy to report that our meeting went well. Worked out a good compromise for the opportunity we were dealing with. Originally, it wasn’t looking too good. I guess I needed to have more … faith.

. Typically, I’ll leave the customer’s site by 515pm to help offset the additional drive time. Not this time.  Worked somewhat late – 535pm. Called Mindy soon after getting on the road. We talked for a good portion of my I-270 commute. Mindy seemed to purposely be keeping dinner a secret. I didn’t pry.

Arrived home around 610pm. It was no longer raining but still very wet. Mild though – about 62 degrees. Mindy was putting the finishing touches on dinner as I entered. We were having this special chicken dish Jacob asked for. Mindy said she agreed to make it if Jacob helped Bella with her home work. That was nice of him even if he did have an ulterior motive. Perhaps he should help her more often. Isn’t that what big brothers do?

The chicken dish was really tasty for everyone but Bella. She didn’t care for it and ended up going with Fruit Loops. She was pumped up for gymnastics, this the last night of practice before her first actual meet, which is this coming Saturday in Bellefontaine. Mindy agreed to drop her off. I agreed to fetch her afterwards.

After clean-up, I retired to my PC. Like a lot of days recently, I became crazy sleepy after eating a big dinner. I wanted and took a nap while sitting at my PC. Jacob went with Mindy to drop Bella. They weren’t gone long. I woke when I heard them come back in.

They agreed to put in a Harry Potter movie, which didn’t interest me in the least. I hung by my computer but ultimately went for a nap on the livingroom floor. The audio was cranked louder than I’ve ever heard Jacob and/or Mindy put it. They’re usually the first two to complain. I chose not to bring it up. I knew I could still sleep, despite the noise. I woke at 805pm and poked around on my PC until it was time to go fetch Bella – 818pm.

I arrived after just seven minutes. Headed in where they had Bella practicing her floor/tumble routine. We left after just a minute or so. Bella was in good spirits. Asked if we could please stop at Wendy’s. She didn’t eat much for dinner and I she probably burnt it all off doing gymnastics. I stopped just for her. Besides, it’s practically on the way.

Bella ate her Wendy’s while Jacob and Mindy continued watching the Potter movie. I stayed away from the loud movie, opting instead to pour a White Rajah and sip it at my PC. It wasn’t long before Mindy paused the movie and asked Jacob to take Eiknarf out after hearing her scratch at the door. Jacob gave his momma some serious attitude about it. I was even surprised with his tone. Mindy snapped right back advising him to stop immediately. He took the dog out as ordered. Bella, meanwhile, was asked to get her shower, which she willingly did.

Once the movie was stopped, I made my way to the family room, which had to be around 915pm to hopefully catch some quality Science Channel programming. Mindy walked by while both kids were upstairs and asked me not to take Bella to Wendy’s unless I was picking something up for Jacob too. I was incensed. Really? Is everything tit for tat. And why did she have to turn a positive for Bella into a negative. She’s the one espousing to the neighbors that they need to tell their kids it’s not always equal. Besides, Jacob’s the one that routinely gets all special trips for dinner and wings brought home every time we visit Barleys. I didn’t want to hear any criticism for the Wendy’s deed.

Believe me, I was happy to have some alone time after that. I finished sipping my White Rajah while watching some lame TV show. Bella beckoned for a tuck in minutes later. I headed up and took care of all that. Jacob was already out cold.  Mindy was in our room reading. I headed back downstairs where I finished my beer and then fell asleep just the way I like too – by accident. Feels so good!  I slept on the sofa until almost midnight when I woke and headed for bed. There was defused moonlight shining in our bedroom. That was a good sign.