May 17, 2024
Garbage
Last night, I went to bed later than expected, so I woke up feeling tired. It was Friday, and I was ready to have my wife home so we could get some face time together. I had a busy day planned, and I knew the time would go by quickly. Today, I had a dentist appointment in Raleigh, an errand to run in Bailey, and I wanted to get my motor vehicle inspection done in Wilson. After washing up, I let the dogs out. After they ran out the door, I stepped outside and turned east to face the pine grove. A magnificent sunset was lighting the sky.
I went back inside, grabbed my camera, and headed to the grove. There I saw bright bands of pink and orange illuminating the puffy clouds. The diffused light looked soft and dreamy. I fired off five or six photographs and then went back inside to resume taking care of the dogs. After coffee and a shower, I got dressed and headed into Raleigh for my appointment.
The drive was insignificant, but it took an hour, with traffic, to get to the area. I found the building, arriving about thirty minutes early. Inside the structure, several businesses rented office space on the first floor. The appointment went more quickly and smoothly than expected. In less than an hour, I was back on the road, heading toward Wilson County. The drive back had less traffic, although a few cars sped by me, racing each other. I took the exit to Bailey and completed an errand for my wife.
So far, the morning had been easy, but finding a place to get the car inspected was proving difficult. At the preferred car service center, their inspection person was off work until Monday. A second inspection site told me their computer was down, while a third place told me they were currently not doing state inspections, but that I could try back in the afternoon. I texted my wife that I probably would have to wait on the inspection, but on my way home, I saw a Valvoline service center and I pulled off the road into a parking lot to call them. Their computer was up and they were doing inspections.
Valvoline faced a long line of people waiting to have their cars inspected or oil changed. There were several cars ahead of me and I probably waited an hour before it was my turn. Once they started the inspection, however, things moved quickly. The staff was polite and by the time they finished inspecting my vehicle; the line of waiting customers was gone. I stopped by Panera to grab a sandwich for lunch before heading home.
The dogs and I were happy to see each other, and we all headed outside for a break, even though it was raining. I felt tired from the morning activities and I dozed off on the couch while Axel and I battled for legroom. After a quick twenty-minute nap, I got up and started cleaning the house so it would be ready when my wife arrived later in the evening.
She called me when she was leaving Cary, and we decided on pizza for dinner. When she was about a half hour away from home, I loaded up all the trash in the SUV and headed to the trash service center with plans to order a pizza afterward.
When I pulled into the trash service center, a man who worked there immediately approached my vehicle and began yelling at me. My placard, which was blue, had expired, and I needed to have a pink placard to use the facility. I kindly explained the county had not mailed me a new placard, but that I was a county resident, living a mile down the road. The man would not look at my driver's license and could not tell me how to get a new placard. I found his service less than helpful, bordering on useless. I called Pino’s Pizza to order dinner before making a call to the county to order a new placard. They were closed, so I left a message.
On the way back from Wilson, I saw Garbage sitting on the side of the main road. I knew my wife had just passed through the area about ten minutes before, and I hoped she stopped to say hello to her favorite neighborhood cat. When I arrived home, my wife came out to greet me. At that moment, everything in life resumed perfection. We walked outside on the back porch and wondered if the baby wrens had already left. Yesterday, they had poked out their heads and stood up, almost exiting the nest. This evening, they were nowhere in sight. The nest seemed empty, but we weren’t sure if they were just bedded down out of sight. We went back inside the house to eat, while my wife recounted the time she spent saying hello to Garbage.
Pizza was always a hit, and as we ate, the rain started pouring down outside. It was a relaxed, quiet evening. My wife was tired from the week, but I felt pretty good after my nap with Axel. After eating, we looked outside and noticed the rain had softened. I grabbed a raincoat and hat while my wife opted to skip the rain gear. Then, as if she had never been gone, my best friend and I were once again exploring the woods together.
The weather was humid and misty. There was a strange odor in the air that we tried to describe to each other. To me, it smelled like the red rubber balls we used to use in elementary school to play war ball. As we walked north on the trail, my wife walked in front while I followed, as I always wanted her to have an unobstructed view of the woods. As we walked, she saw a couple of deer moving through the forest. We continued on the creek, stopping to take in the view. This part of the property always looked mysterious, but this evening, a thick layer of fog was forming about ten feet off the ground. It was eerily beautiful.
When we arrived home, my wife pulled out a birthday cake she purchased from the Tous Les Jours bakery inside H-Mart. We had discovered these cakes when living in Texas. Although the small cakes were expensive, they were a wonderful investment for birthday celebrations. We each gobbled up a slice. I ate mine with a cup of decaf coffee.
It had been a busy week and, after a shower, we both crawled into bed, happy to be together once again. I snuggled my wife for a bit and then fell asleep as I did every night, with my right hand resting on her left thigh. There we drifted off into a deep sleep, tired, but excited for a Saturday morning together.