January 18, 2024
It was time to go back to work, but starting your week off on a Thursday and ending it on a Friday was not a terrible deal. I slept well the night before, and although I was not operating at one hundred percent, I was definitely on the mend. My work team was all in good spirits, and I was happy to be back.
Being sick had disrupted my routine, and that can make us feel uncomfortable and lost. While it’s important not to get stuck in monotonous behaviors, I think self-discipline looks close to this behavior. The key, I think, is to repeat important tasks, making slight improvements as time marches forward. In any case, I was ready to get back to my routine.
During a morning break, I took a five-minute walk into the pine grove, and while I was there, my watched buzzed, alerting me there was someone in front of the house. I looked at my watch screen and saw a picture of my wife’s car. She came home early; a pleasant surprise! This allowed us a rare weekday opportunity to eat lunch together. On the way home from lunch, we stopped and picked up the dogs more beef tendon chews and grabbed some coffee from Scooters.
After work, I took Axel into the woods with me while I carried out vegetable scraps to a feeding area near the creek on the north end of the property. The raccoons and squirrels had finished the food that was there, and I needed to get rid of cucumber and carrot peelings.
Going into the woods is Axel’s favorite activity. He had a good time taking in all the smells and running around, leaving his mark on the trails. Axel is a good listener and is very smart. He is well-trained and is a joy to have out in the woods. We dropped off the kitchen scraps and then wandered around the woods until he was panting hard with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Dinner was amazing. My wife made an excellent tortilla soup, the broth made with fresh chiles and chicken broth, avocado, and blue corn tortilla strips. It was delicious. During dinner, we talked about a few things we have coming up, wondering what next month would be like when she would be gone for the entire month on a medical rotation in a different city. We are not used to being apart. We also speculated on what we would do when she finished graduate school. There were other programs she could do to boost her career. Would we stay here, move closer to Durham, or move to another state? These are all topics we will have to resolve in the coming months.
The night was quiet and slow. It felt good to feel relaxed and have more energy. I took a shower and then wrote some notes in my journal. Thursday nights are grand, since Friday, in my book, is the best day of the work week.