Memorial Day

I needed the day off today and as it was, I don't exactly get ME time either.  That's because Lisa had already lined up all these activities she needed to do and so guess who gets to watch Johnnie in the morning. Not that I mind actually, in fact I was happy to get to see him for most of the day. And so it actually felt like a Saturday when I got there at 9 AM to pick him up. Still I wasn't backing off the 15,000 steps Monday routine, which meant I had to get something done early. Enter a Leslie Sansone walk video for a good 30 minutes plus. By the time I got done with that thing I had done 4400 steps in almost 37 active minutes. A very good start indeed. I even got a nice breakfast in, and the workout was probably the reason why i wolfed down 2 eggs and 2 pieces of ham in about a minute. Meanwhile over at Lisa's mom and son hadn't had breakfast yet although I didn't care since I already did have my breakfast. At least she gave Johnnie some fresh squeezed OJ and the croissant I bought on Saturday morning.  It was clear he hadn't had a shower yet either. So I had to hang around for a bit to do the requisite chat with Lisa and then off we went to my apartment. THERE we started Johnnie's morning routine. I got him showered, brushed his teeth, and sat him in front of some Wild Kratts so that I could get a shower myself. It was almost 11 AM when we got done but I thought it was perfectly fine. I actually wanted to do something different with him today... go to the zoo, go to the museum, take a train to the beach. But he nixed all those ideas. And besides, Lisa was coming to get him by 3 PM anyway so we didn't really have much time. Hey all I wanted was to chill. I'll just chill in front of the TV with him. We didn't even end up going out for lunch. All he wanted was some penne pasta in chicken broth. It was as if he was on his mom's routine. As for me, I had a nice thick steak I bought yesterday with the intent of barbecuing it today. It IS Memorial Day after all. Which is exactly what I did. And so it was that I barbecued on Memorial Day anyway, and then ate me that honking big peace of steak which was almost a pound. Candidly, I didn't FEEL like finishing it. When I felt full, halfway through the steak, I gave up. Hey this WAS something different wasn't it?! 

Lisa called around 2:45 and came by a half hour later. She asked me to come over around 4:30 PM so we could all have dinner and so she could at least have SOME time with Johnnie today. Typical Lisa, all she wanted to do was cook up whatever in her fridge she hadn't cooked during the week. That turned out to be some ground turkey. Hey, I'm game to make spaghetti and turkey bolognese. Naturally I would be cooking and she also asked me to bring some green beans for veggies. And so it was that I came over and made dinner for all of us, including hot dogs for Johnnie. Lisa got to hang out an extra couple of hours with Johnnie and all was good. Even when Lisa started piping about how I cooked while allowing spatter to supposedly ruin her metal tea pot. <Really?> I chose to just let that roll off my back and choose to find some gratitude in her tone that someone actually made dinner for her. I chose to bring back memories of the Sunday nights I used to make us spaghetti bolognese when she lived in that studio apartment in Westwood and where I spent most of my time too. Some of the early days of our relationship.  It was a kinder, gentler us. Or maybe we were simply far more tolerant with each other then. Hey, at least she didn't blow up like she used to during the last years of our marriage. She said something about Courtney destroying something almost every time she stays over LOL. Now THAT is the Lisa I used to live with. I also found gratitude that I didn't have to deal with that energy the rest of the evening. Just me, Johnnie, and Claire going to my apartment. I was actually feeling pretty good but pretty tired. That's because I managed to make my 15,000 steps and 110+ active minutes even as I had Johnnie for part of the day and on my day off. I didn't actually get to my past routines. I remember I used to watch the movie Indian Summer. After all, Memorial Day is the timemarker for the beginning of the summer season. For today I was just happy I didn't have to work, didn't have to deal with any COVID reports, didn't have to field any calls about someone needing this or that. By the time Johnnie came over, I had shifted to routine but at least it is a short week. And this morning all I thought about how this time, I expected the TownHall scheduled for Wednesday to go off without a hitch. That would be a win. I reminded myself that I still had all these things percolating in my head, led by a decision to be made about where to live after mid-July. Do I stay here? Do I find somewhere else? I don't have to make that decision tonight. And something tells me the best decision in my best interests has already been made. I just have to open up to it. Tomorrow.