February 3, 2024
Last night, I didn’t sleep very well. I woke up a little before 3 AM and dozed for a half hour before waking again. I stayed in bed, open-eyed, until I finally got up around 4 AM. My brain was probably excited that my wife, still sleeping, was home. It was really nice to have her back. I knew she’d wake when I got out of bed, so I coaxed her to stay under the covers and sleep longer. After a quick shower, I sat down to write. It was still dark outside.
I wrote for about an hour before my wife woke up. Once awake, I made us both cappuccinos, and we sat on the couch teasing and playing with the dogs. It all felt so normal, like someone hit a reset button and erased my wife’s absence from the previous week. I wasn’t the only happy one in the house that missed our routine. Today, the dogs were especially playful, happy to get all the love my wife gives them. Ear “scritches” were in abundance.
My wife jumped in the shower while I washed our coffee cups. After, we both sat at the kitchen table, my wife studying and me writing. We didn’t move for at least two hours. We took a brief break and then left the house, heading to the YMCA for a Saturday morning yoga class. It was good to see the studio was full of people. Leaving the facility, we googled pizza places and found one we wanted to try in Wilson called Pinots.
The pizzeria was in a suitable location, but was empty. There was loud music playing, something Middle Eastern that sounded religious. It reminded me of Sufi music played in the background of a Coleman Barks recital of Rumi’s poems. We ordered some garlic knots and a medium pepperoni pizza. The man behind the counter was very kind and seemed excited that we opted to stay and eat at the location. My wife and I talked about how the quality of the bread or crust can make or break a pizza. The crust at Pinots was great, floppy like a slice of pizza, but somehow still crisp with every bite. The mozzarella cheese was also delicious and pulled into long strands of yumminess with every slice. We were thrilled by the find.
When we were about to leave, the owner came to talk to us. We probably talked for about ten or fifteen minutes. He was from Egypt and had been in the U.S. for over twenty years. The man had several grandchildren and pulled out his phone to show us pictures of his son’s family. He also told us how he missed his relatives in Egypt, as they had been apart for a long time. There was a sense of deep sadness, but full appreciation for all that he had accomplished while living here. I think those who have lived in other countries have an ability to appreciate this country more than those who have been here their whole life. American pride seems, to me, to have a twinge of entitlement, without the perspective of what makes life here unique. Of course, things are not perfect, but this man’s story was a reminder that life never is. I think all humans know what it feels like to be happy and sad at the same time.
Exhausted from the week, my wife and I opted to take a nap in the afternoon. We slept hard for over two hours, waking up, feeling refreshed. It’s hard to beat a good nap on the weekend. When we woke up, we took a walk into the woods together with our oldest dog, Kilo. In the pine grove, we stopped to watch a woodpecker, its bright red head bobbing as it pecked a small hole in a tree. Listening more carefully, we heard the sounds of several more woodpeckers. There was a small flock in the trees, just like I had seen last week in a nearby location.
After running Kilo for a while, we took a shortcut through the woods to a tree I wanted to rescue. Last week, I noticed a large dead pine fell, landing on top of the spiraled tree. Since I had last been there, the base of the dead tree had almost detached. I was able to move it back and forth enough to sever it, allowing us to remove the dead pine. With some help, I lifted the pine off the live tree and let it fall unobstructed. Some time next week, I’ll go back and harvest the dead tree for firewood.
In the evening, my wife studied for several more hours while I did some reading. After, it was time to shut down our brains and give them a rest. We put on some music and had dinner together. The evening was relaxing as we eased into all of our favorite routines together. We knew she would have to leave town on the following day, but this evening was ours to cherish.