Gloom, Despair, & Agony on Me

Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me
 

I went to bed around 1030pm fairly certain that I’d be working from home on Monday, so when I woke feeling restless around 2am and headed downstairs for about 45 minutes to do some reading, I wasn’t too worried about it. If necessary, I figured I could sleep in until as late as 7am with no real impact.

To that end, I didn’t get up and out of bed until I heard Mindy getting in the shower. By then it was somewhere near 7am. I felt kinda bad for not prepping coffee the night before. But I already knew she remedied the problem. I could smell fresh coffee!

Noticed that it rained during the overnight. The deck was wet and puddled. However, at the time the sky was simply cloudy. I slipped into my exercise shoes then completed Monday calisthenics, which included sit-ups, windmills, and push-ups. Given the late hour, Bella was up and downstairs on sofa. She watched and listened as I whipped out 50 push-ups. It must’ve startled when I thumped my chest like an angry ape afterwards. 

I didn’t plan to run until after Bella was on the school bus. In addition to prepping the day’s coffee, Mindy put a rump roast in the crock pot, too. Once she was downstairs I apologized for not making coffee. She left for work near 730am.

Before heading to the bus stop, I dug into a few work emails. The time moved swiftly. Bella panicked a little bit when she couldn’t find her school shoes. Quickly determined that she left them in Jimaken’s car Sunday evening. She promptly went with plan ‘b’ – her old beater shoes.

Met the others at the bus stop. Talked soccer with Chrissy. Sounds like she spent most of her weekend at Makayla’s soccer tournament. The bus came by around 8am. Because it was Eiknarf’s first sniff of the morning air, we walked across the street so she could relieve herself before we headed back inside.

Drafted a response to an email but chose not to send it before heading out for my run. It was cloudy, damp and cool out the door, I wore a long-sleeved running shirt and shorts. I had just passed the two mile mark when seemingly out of nowhere I had a head-on collision with a bug. It flew into my forehead just below the bill of my ballcap. I knew instantly that it was more than just a collision. Whatever it was it stung me. I stopped briefly to checkout/rub my finger over the wound. It started burning almost instantly and was accompanied by sharp localized pain. It hurt so bad that I thought that I should cut my run short and head home. Was even a tad woozy.

I didn’t see what it actually was but I’m guessing a yellow jacket given the season. I knew we’ve started seeing them on our deck over the last week or so. I could feel a small bump where it stung me, just above and left of my left eye. I decided to continue my run still leaving the option of cutting it to just three miles if it got any worse. But by the time I reached the go – no-go point, I decided to run the full 4.1 miles in spite of the burning pain.

The pain didn’t get any worse, but remained fairly constant. I was anxious to get back home and check out my wound in the mirror. I wondered if my entire eye might swell up for the sting. By the time I was home the impact zone was more red than anything else. No longer a single bump. The pain, however, remained. Ouch!! Felt like I got hit with a flying stone or something.

I sent the email that I drafted earlier then fried the pug and I a few eggs. The pain never did let up, even after I took three Advil mid-day. Stayed busy all morning and early afternoon. Decided that a shower was necessary come 1pm, and figured it could help alleviate any swelling from the sting. If nothing else, the hot water felt good splashing against my forehead. Didn’t do much for the pain, however, though the Advil took a little bit of the edge off.

Like most days working from home, the time flew by. Jacob & Bella were home sooner than I would’ve guessed. Shared my sting story with Bella. She was only somewhat sympathetic. Earlier in the afternoon I turned the crock-pot temp to low just as Mindy requested. Smelt terrific!

Mindy was home around 415pm. She asked how my day went then I proceeded to shared my sting story. She was a bit more sympathetic than Bella and even fetched some cortisone & Benadryl cream to apply to my wound. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I stayed busy with work until sometime after 5pm. By then, I was more than ready to call it a day.

Dinner was served around 545pm. As I shared earlier, we were having the pot roast that cooked all day in the crock-pot. For extra measure, she tossed in carrots and potatoes, too. In addition, she prepared Bob Evans macaroni & cheese a crescent rolls. Dinner was delicious. I especially enjoyed the cooked carrots. Both kids asked for Mindy's help mashing their crock potted potatoes. Apparently didn't like that dark look that's common for potatoes that have soaked in a beef-ridden crock-pot all day. :)

Finished clean-up near 630pm. Mindy & I spent a little time on the deck afterwards. While Mindy played some game on her cell phone, I called Ashley back after a day of playing phone tag. Among other things, I confirmed my Thursday school lunch with Olivia.

Retreated to the living room and my book near 7pm. Was much looking forward to digging back into my latest book. However, before I read even one more page, I stretched out on the living room floor to decompress, relax. Did that for little more than 5 minutes. Om!

Read for about two hours, finishing the chapter on Rumi and then started on the next, Julian of Norwich. Interesting read. Mindy headed to bed while I was still in the living room reading. Bella was still up and in the family room watching her crap TV (Disney/Nickelodeon). But she was summoned to bed at 845pm. Once she was off to bed, I went to the family room and took over the TV determined to catch some of the MNF game pitting the Bengals against the Steelers. Bengals held a narrow lead early on but it ended up tied at the half, or when I started to dose. Headed for bed near 10pm.

I took Eiknarf with me, and lifted into our bed. She promptly found her way between my legs but atop all the covers. It was very uncomfortable for me. I might've slept for about 30 minutes before waking again feeling wide awake. Choosing not to fight it, I got up, headed back downstairs, and rejoined the MNF game. This time, however, I muted the volume so I could multitask - read and watch TV. Read several more pages. Already on page 160. That's heavy reading for me given that I'm a 10-20 page per night kinda guy.

Ended up watching the MNF game in its entirety. The Bengals looked better in every facet of the game. They won 20-10. I was impressed. I headed back to bed just after midnight.