May 31, 2024

Party Animals

It was the last day of the month, my father’s birthday. My wife and I woke up, feeling a little sleepy from the day before. We both hoped for an easier workday. It was Friday, and we were both eager to start our weekend.

When I took the dogs out, it was still dark, and the songbirds were just waking. Their songs were loud, but familiar. This chirpy chatter was a part of my daily environment. It felt cold outside. The moon, just slightly fuller than a half moon, shone brightly over the pine grove.

On the west side of the house, a lone doe fed on the grass. She seemed calm even though I was on the back porch watching her. I wished her a good morning and then went back inside the house. My wife and I had coffee, and I finished my morning chores while she got ready for work.

After my wife left the house, I went to my office, cleared my desk, and then sat down to write. Once I finished, I closed my computer, grabbed my hat, slipped on my boots, and headed out into the woods for a morning walk.

This morning, the air felt dry again. The full spring canopy of trees shaded the forest well. Even though I was wearing a thick flannel shirt on a late May morning, it felt cold outside. It was another pleasant reminder that I was no longer in Texas, where it might as well have already been summer. While it got hot in North Carolina, there were always slight breaks that gave just enough reprieve to reset and be ready for the summer humidity.

I made a stop by the creek to take some pictures of trees and leaves backlit by the rising sun. During my walks in the forest, I’d been focusing on using the natural light and shadows to highlight the subjects I photographed. The creek area, which always had an open sky, was ripe with light.

As I moved up the trail on the way home, I caught a brief glimpse of a deer’s white tail pointing straight up as it ran away from me in the woods. Even though the animal was moving at a full gallop, its movement made no sound. The only noise I heard were the gusts of wind through the trees and the distant chirping of birds.

I walked south into the grove and saw a second deer. This one let out a faint bark before evacuating the area. The air felt so dry today. I knew I was going to have to get outside as much as possible. At least, those were my plans. What I didn’t know at that moment was that work would keep me glued to my chair indoors.

On the way inside the house, I saw a large butterfly perched on the front porch. I wasn’t sure if it was dying, but it was relatively still and did not fly away. I went inside and changed lenses on my camera, fastening on a more suitable lens. Then I grabbed a couple of portable flashes that would allow me to reduce the aperture to help get more of the photograph into focus at such a close distance. I shot several pictures of the butterfly’s wings. Close up, they looked like a draping cloth material, and magnified, there were tiny segments that looked like micro feathers. It was a fun find.

I took a hot shower, happy there were no ticks on me. After, I got dressed and sat down at my desk to work. The day was off to a busy pace as soon as the starting gun fired. My wife had planned to be home by noon, but there was a medical emergency she had to attend to, so when lunchtime came, she was still in Raleigh. I reached out to my father to wish him a happy birthday and told him I loved him.

I left the house for lunch to pick up some allergy medication for Bodhi. The dog had suffered from skin allergies since he was a puppy, and the vet was giving us a new medication to try. By giving, I meant selling. The new pills dramatically improved Beau’s quality of life, and I was excited to find him some relief. He seemed happier, too. On the way home from the veterinary clinic, I picked up a burger and brought it home. I had not eaten a fast food burger in a long time, probably for several months. It was tasty, but it wasn’t exactly an energy booster.

My wife arrived home in the evening and she was in good spirits. It was time to start the weekend together, something we had both looked forward to during the week. As planned, we drove into Wilson and ate dinner at the Cracker Barrel. My wife was excited she had a coupon for a free Barrel Bites appetizer. Why was free food always the best?

After dinner, we stopped by Harris Teeter to check out any new IPAs we could find. I was ecstatic to find a four pack of Fake News New England IPA, brewed by Gizmo Brew Works in Raleigh. We also picked up some Damn Right Pineapple Milkshake IPA, also brewed by Gizmo, and some Lounge Juice Tropical Double IPA, made by Highland Brewing out of Asheville. We were ready for a festive Friday night! Queue silly foreshadowing.

When we arrived home, I fed the dogs, who enjoyed leftovers of biscuits, ham, and beef tenderloins. Unbeknownst to me, my wife was outside starting a fire, ready, no doubt, for our little private party of two. Well, six, if you count the dogs. I cut more wood and before we knew it; we had a raging fire burning, country music booming, and cold beers being sipped.

The next few hours were unexpected, but something we laughed about later. I turned down the music to hear the cicadas during the blue hour. The sun had set below the horizon and I rocked on a chair while my wife lied down in the hammock. She promptly fell asleep, her entire body and face covered with a blanket to keep away the mosquitoes. I dozed off in my chair, waking up every half hour to add more wood to the fire that kept us warm. There we slept for a good two or three hours before we ran out of wood and went inside to sleep.

Such was the party life of a medical student and her hard-working husband. Truth be told, it felt good to get in some extra sleep. And as far as evening sleep parties went, we were wild.