A Valentine, some Roses, and a Wise Man

 

This week's word: Autumn

I was mid-dream when I woke at 549am. Still groggy, I got up anyway to get my day going. Downstairs a few minutes later, I glanced out back at the weather. Hey, it was clear! After Saturday’s clouds and Sunday’s storms, the clear sky was a welcome sight.

I purposely didn’t roll the recycling can to the curb the evening before due to the high winds (gusts to 40 mph). I did, however, roll the regular can out figuring it would be OK since the garbage in it is in trash bags. The recycling, on the other hand, is loose and free. If it blows over there’s suddenly one heck of a mess. A few minutes later I was fully engaged in calisthenics. Once they were behind me, I poured a cup of coffee then headed to my PC where I was very curious to learn who won the Denver/K.C. game. Denver won.

As for the weather, I learned that it was 43 degrees. Expecting a high around 50 later in the day. Read a few other headlines before taking Mindy coffee. After setting Mindy’s coffee on her night stand, I opted to slip back into bed for about 10 more minutes of sleep. I felt cheated having woken earlier mid-dream. There I remained until almost 635am when Mindy got up. Once I heard her feet hit the floor I got up again too. She was already making the bed. I did my half then headed back downstairs. The extra ten minutes of rest did me good.

Downstairs again at 640am, it wasn't too long before Jacob was out the door for school. I planned on working from the Hilliard office but didn't plan to head in until 10am or so since I wasn't going to run until after seeing Bella onto the bus. My laptop was already logged on so I checked my calendar and email to see what if any surprises awaited. Nothing pressing.

Mindy called for Bella to wake near 7am. She’s always slow to motivate but even slower this time around. Mindy called out to her numerous times. I thought it might get ugly but it didn’t. I think Mindy exercised a little extra tolerance given that Bella has a cough. We gave her cough syrup just before bedtime. Bella was finally up and downstairs by 720am. By then, Mindy already had her Pilot warming in the driveway. Mindy gave Bella her medicine just before she left. She also reminded me of Bella’s teacher’s conference scheduled for 550pm. I planned to meet Mindy there straight from work.

Once Mindy was gone, I slipped into my running clothes then did a stretch routine. Next, I leashed up the pug for a walk, but just before heading out, I reminded Bella to feed the pug and then brush her hair and teeth. Just as we were coming back inside, Bella was coming downstairs again with her hair still in rats, the pug unfed, and just a light jacket on. I lit her up a bit for lack of follow through. Without missing a beat, she went to correct two of the three things. She said she’d feed the pug, too, but forgot a third time. Oh boy! It was 757am. We had to scoot out the door.

We met the others at the bus stop. The bus came along pretty quickly. Back home with the pug, I wheeled the trash can back to its resting place. It was only 805am. Back inside, I poured another cup of coffee then played around online for a few minutes before heading out for a run. I hit the running trail at 820am and ran the full 4.1 miles. It was a much easier run than Sunday’s where I ran on will alone. This time I had energy and soft muscles.

Back at the house near 9am, I quickly started breakfast, making the pug and I some eggs. At the same time, I threw together a light snack: nuts and a banana. Finished breakfast at 920am then headed up for a quick shower. Didn’t take long. I was back downstairs preparing to depart by 945am. Once again, forgot about the Wilson Rd/Roberts Rd lane change. Lucky for me, there wasn’t any traffic in the outside turn lane. I corrected my lane and entered 270 without issue. Arrived at the office near 10am.

Was last in the office the Thursday prior. Felt like yesterday. Once I was settled I walked down to chat with a peer who had pinged earlier for some help. After a quick chat with him I walked over to say hello to my boss but he was apparently working from home. I joined our recurring team call at 11am. The call was relatively brief, lasting only about 30 minutes.

Took care of a number of things through the afternoon, but the lion's share of my time was on a couple pressing reactive issues. The day from the office went fast. I called Mindy from my desk around 4pm after missing an incoming call from her earlier. She reminded me of our meeting with Bella's teacher. Bella, by the way, wasn't coming with. Jimaken was supposed to meet us there. The meeting wasn't until 550pm but Mindy shared that she planned to leave the house around 5pm fearing that rush hour traffic would be a nightmare. She also told me that she stopped for a few necessities on her way home from school. I asked if one of them was coffee creamer because I ran out that morning. Unfortunately no, coffee creamer wasn't one of the items she picked up. I then shared that I would most likely make a stop at Kroger in route to Bella's school to get some.

I left the office at 5pm but thought it was 510pm thanks to my dysfunctional office clock that has a mind of its own. It runs fast - about 58.5 minutes to the hour - which adds up to about 10-15 minutes during the normal work day. Meh! Arrived at Kroger shortly thereafter. While there, decided to pick-up some roses for Mindy, too. Spent a little time picking a dozen with the freshest, beefiest stems, which is key to rose longevity. Of course, my primary purpose was picking up coffee creamer. Opted to try something new - salted caramel mocha. And last second I picked up a bag of Krispy Kreme mini chocolate frosted donuts for the kids.

Even with my stop, I arrived at Bella's school way early. Walked the halls looking for any new art work and then checked my work email. Mindy got there about 10 minutes after me. We walked around the building, eventually stopping for a brief chat with Mrs. Valentine. Jimaken arrived a couple minutes later. Still had another 10 minutes before our scheduled meeting time. We found a recent piece of Bella's hanging in the hallway. She had to write about herself from three perspectives: hers, a family member, and then a toy or pet. All three of us got a kick out of Bella's storyline.

Turns out, Bella's teacher was running behind, but not by too much. We finally got in to talk with her at 555pm. No surprises, which is good. But there was some good news. Seems Bella is doing so well in math that her teacher wants to move to a higher math group, which is something Bella's been pining for, for a while. Teacher wanted our opinions and buy in. Absolutely! The only real critique was of her hand writing.

We left for home around 615pm. Just before I got to the 270 entrance ramp Mindy came flying by cutting in front of me. I don't think she realized that it was me. So when she phoned a few seconds later I gave her a bit of an earful but only in jest. We talked through most of the drive home. Among other things, we worked out a deal where she would run Jacob to basketball practice and I would do the pick-up. The only catch is that basketball practice doesn't begin until 8pm and ends at 930pm. Neither one of us like the idea of the kid being out that late on a school night, let alone having to leave the house ourselves at that hour.

Dinner was ready and waiting at home. We were having tacos, which have always been a family favorite. Home near 630pm. Because Mindy had everything prepared ahead of time, all we really had to do was make our burritos/tacos, and they were scrumptious. By the time dinner was done and the kitchen cleaned up, it was after 7pm. I headed upstairs to change into my PJs despite needing to pick-up Jacob later. Mindy left to run Jacob to basketball practice around 740pm. Planned a stop at Target for some more cough syrup, too. While Mindy was away, I played on the computer and then did some reading from my Kindle.

I am pretty sure that Mindy was home around 830pm. I read and napped until it was time to go after Jacob. Mindy suggested I leave no later than 915pm. His practice is at a middle school on the far western side of Hilliard and far from any freeway exits. Still, the drive was pretty simple: Trabue, to Walcutt, Walcutt to Scioto Darby, Scioto Darby to the middle school. Took only 13 minutes, arriving at 928pm.
I sat in the parking lot patiently waiting for Jacob. 930pm came and went but still no Jacob. In fact, I didn't see any kids coming out. A few minutes later Jacob phoned. Said he was at Heritage, which is another middle school all together. I thought he was kidding. Luckily, he shared that it was right next door to the other. How strange is that? Apparently, Mindy didn't get the email that everyone else got that apparently shared as much. Jacob told me to sit tight and that he would simply walk to where I was parked. I waited for another 5 minutes and still no Jacob. Mindy soon phoned asking if I found him OK. Nope. But just as I was explaining, here came Jacob. Soon he and I were on our way home.

Mindy greeted us at the door apologizing for missing the all important email detailing the school building change. In reality, it wasn't that big of deal. It's literally right next door. Even before Jacob and I were settled, Mindy said she was ready for bed. It was already 945pm. I said I would join her if we could watch at least some of the MNF game from bed. She agreed and we headed to bed. It was the Patriots vs. the Panthers. Somewhat surprising, the Panthers lead 10-0 already. It was halftime when we turned the TV on but the 2nd half was just about to get underway. I watched football until 1040pm. After turning off the TV I thought I might have to get up because I wasn't ready to fall asleep. However, instead of getting up, I laid still thinking only of pleasant thoughts. Before 11pm, I drifted off to sleep.