In Which Your Intrepid Heroine Has Further Adventures

Yesterday began well. It is a pleasure to wake minutes before the alarm goes off, so that I am awake and alert without having to hear that infernal electronic bleating. (As opposed to waking hours before the alarm goes off, so that I am vertical when I would much rather be horizontal.)

I went to the health club and gently started nudging my body toward greater flexibility and endurance. A friend at work asked if this is because of NintendoMan, and while I will not deny that he plays into the equation, it is more a matter of having wanted for quite some time to be more physically active, with greater range of motion, and fewer aches and creaks, but having no idea how to shoehorn it into my schedule, or whether I could afford one of the round-the-clock fitness centers.

And it turns out that I can, and they have a few classes I would like to take; if I wake in the middle of the night, Facebook and writing and knitting are no longer my only options.

I celebrated, naturally enough, with a hot chocolate from Racetrac on the way to the grocery store for more apples and carrot sticks and bags of microwave-steamable veggies. And then I came home and took a shower with my new shower cap and headed out the door to work.

Where I promptly got stuck behind an accident, and at 8:29 I was calling the office to tell them that I would not be at my desk 15 or so miles away, at 8:30. I had just eased past the wreckers and was accelerating cautiously when my left front tire blew. Thankfully, I was going maybe 20-30 mph, so there was no question of losing control. I just signaled and pulled over and rolled slowly on the rim to the nearest gas station.

There was a man walking out the door to his car, and I asked him politely if he had time to put on my donut tire, and he did. Called his work, uttered a string of rapid-fire non-English into his cell phone, and had me on my way in five minutes or less. I went to a different outlet of the tire store I use and discovered that (1) they are far less busy than the other one [there was a bright young man with a clipboard at my door before I was completely unbuckled] and (2) my tires were still under warranty, so I was out only another 20 minutes of my time and $20.00 to renew my warranty.

I drove into work singing “How Great Thou Art” with joy and gratitude and abandon.

So much to be thankful for: the warranty, where I was on the freeway when the tire blew, my speed, the fact that it was no longer 15°F outside, the amazing coincidence [not!] of a gentleman walking out of the gas station with two strong hands and a willing heart, that it was not 5:00am outside the health club, lots of things.

Work went well. I plowed steadily through my inbox, got the day’s mail read and dates calendared, noted on the daily mail sheet that I had printed off the dismissal order and release on a case we are closing and would draft the cover letter to the court today (which garnered me a “Good work! Thanks!” from my attorney in his own comments). I actually got the letters written and mailed before leaving the office, in spite of working switchboard from 4:00 until closing.

Firstborn came and joined us at Knit Night. Mostly she and I sat off slightly to one side and talked, but we also played well with others. She enjoys beautiful knits (of which there were plenty last night) but has no wish to produce them herself. [I converted her to the joys of the handknitted sock last year, bwa ha ha ha ha!]

And then at 9:00 she went home, and I went to meet NintendoMan at a restaurant that keeps late hours. We talked until after midnight. Yeah, me. The woman who is ordinarily craving sleep at 8:30. I had the option of staying up that late because I am taking PT today to tidy the house. It is clean enough for the boyfriend, who knew me when my family lived in a shabby apartment and the house was full of kids and their friends and their stuff, but not clean enough to be having a RS presidency meeting in my living room. It may never again be as clean for them as I intend for it to be tonight, but at least we are setting off on the right foot.

There will also be excursions to the laundromat, to the bread thrift store, and to the health club. And there will be frequent breaks for knitting.

I had so much fun with TheBoy last night! He has amazing stories to tell, and I’m not sure which I enjoy more: the stories per se, or his voice and facial expressions as he tells them. We covered a lot of ground last night. College adventures. The kids we are not worried about. The kids whose choices are breaking our hearts. The proper way to celebrate birthdays. Rigor mortis.

And I am rapidly becoming a fan of the late-night, or all-night restaurant. It’s public, it’s well-lighted, it’s climate-controlled, we can be near but still maintain a proper physical distance, and there is time to get to know one another better. And when we reach the point that we absolutely, positively, need to go to our respective homes and get some sleep, there is that minute or two at the door of my car for sweet and appropriate exchange of affection.

He flies out to U-tahr tomorrow for his son’s wedding on Friday. He is granting me the pleasure and privilege of picking him up at the airport on Saturday. I had wanted to ask if I could, but felt a little shy about it, and we just kindof stumbled into the realization that it would make both of us very happy if it happened.

You married folks? you know, or should know, that it is the small daily kindnesses that keep love alive. [Do something nice today for the one you love.]