July 18, 2024
Box Of Chocolates
We woke up excited that today was my wife’s last day of medical rotations. Of course, with every end comes some level of melancholy. For my wife, the end of PA school came with a tinge of sadness and an ocean of relief. Now that her end of curriculum exam was over, she had two weeks of administrative work at her university before her graduation on August 2, 2024.
We enjoyed talking about the meaning of the day over a cup of hot coffee. Afterward, my wife got ready for work and was out the door within the hour. When she left, I went to my room for a lengthy writing session.
The end of school, after two years of hard work, carried a sense of tiredness and exhaustion that we could finally express. After writing, I opted to skip my morning walk into the woods. Instead, I lied down on the spare bed in my office and fell fast asleep for another hour, waking in time to take a shower and get ready for work.
Work started with a slew of meetings, making the morning pass quickly. Before I knew it, my wife was already on her way home after being released early from her last day of her cardiology rotation. After she called, I received a message on my phone that UPS had delivered a package, but it wasn’t on our front porch. My wife called soon after to let me know the delivery person left the package at our new neighbor’s house. Because the delivery was a box of gourmet chocolates, we were worried about it being left out in the heat.
I texted an old neighbor, asking them to let the new neighbor know about the mistaken delivery. About fifteen minutes later, I received a phone call from an Oregon number. Remembering that my new neighbor had just moved from that area, I answered it. It was him, and we talked a bit, agreeing that I would go pick up the chocolates.
I grabbed my keys and walked to my car, but when I arrived near my vehicle, I realized the skies were cloudy and the heat wasn’t that bad. Instead of driving, I opted to walk to the neighbor’s house, where he was waiting when I arrived. I asked him how he liked North Carolina and he said he didn’t expect it to have so many bugs.
Although bugs were not on my mind of new things to deal with, I realized summer brought with it mosquitoes, biting flies, gnats, ticks, and every other insect imaginable. I told my neighbor the bugs were a nuisance during late spring and summer, but if he could be patient for two more months, they would mostly be gone for the rest of the year. We talked a bit and then I headed back home with my wife’s chocolates in hand.
She arrived about twenty minutes later and since it was lunchtime; we drove into Wilson to grab food from Panera. I ordered my favorite salad while my wife grabbed a soup and salad combo. We both sipped on our favorite Panera beverage, their iced green tea that was both sweet and refreshing.
On the trip back to the house, my boss called. He was on vacation and had just stepped off of an airplane. He asked if his boss had contacted me about a matter and I explained I had already resolved the issue. My boss thanked me and hung up the phone, sounding relieved.
As my wife and I ate our food, the skies grew dark. Just thirty minutes before, it had been hot. Now, it was gloomy, with thick clouds blocking the sun and strong winds, which helped cool and dry the air. It rained for the rest of the afternoon.
Once work was over, I gathered all the trash in the house and made a quick run to the trash service center. When I returned home, my wife was studying in the dining room, and we agreed to reconvene in the kitchen at seven o’clock. While she studied, I sat down in my office and wrote for an hour. For dinner, we feasted on a fresh salad and leftover lasagna with spicy Italian sausage. The food was sublime.
This evening, summer was nowhere to be found. It was another unexpected gift of cool weather right in the middle of a hot summer season. I grabbed a small gray towel from the kitchen and wiped the rocking chairs dry where my wife and I sat down to watch nightfall.
The cooler weather was a visceral reminder that in just a few months, fall would be here. In fact, the equinox had already passed, and no matter how imperceptible, each day was getting shorter while our planet orbited the sun. This brought me a sense of peace and calm.
After washing a few dishes and cleaning the kitchen, I pulled out the clothes from the dryer and folded them. I took a quick shower and was ready for a good night’s sleep, a slower Friday at work, and a great weekend home with my wife.