Dear Friends,
Note to self: Stop coming home from Maine the night before you have to work. Give yourself at least a day of grace.
The training I attended over the last two days was heavily based on Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits work. I was already somewhat familiar with a lot of it as Covey’s work is based in social and emotional learning, of course, but it was still a very good training for those who were not braindead.
I was pretty braindead.
The ugly truth that keeps rearing its head is that I am not as young as I feel like I am in my head. My body doesn’t bounce back the way I think it should anymore. Recovery time is becoming more important than ever. The aches and pains don’t subside like I remember. For you younger readers (are there any other than you, Q, I don’t know), appreciate your body and take good care of it. One day, it won’t be the body you thought it was and that kinda sucks.
*****
Who are you? I ask the mirror.
What is happening? I ask my hands.
Why do you do that? I ask my knees.
How much longer will you last? I ask myself.
I am you. Says the mirror.
You have used me a lot. Says my hands.
Look at your stupid skateboards. Says my knees.
Nobody knows. Says myself.
*****
There is a cat crying outside my bedroom door. I must keep it shut because some of our cats are not allowed in my room. These are the ones that like to pee on things that smell like something (or someone) they don’t like. Being a pet owner is a joy and a job and a curse.
It’s been nice in a few ways to be home and getting love from the animals is one of them. We are fortunate to have an adult child who still lives at home that we completely trust and is willing to take care of things while we are gone. When Ash moves east next year, it will be tough in a lot of ways, but especially next summer when I will head east myself. Knowing the animals are with people they love while we are gone is very comforting.
*****
Tonight, I will be on a combination of Dad Taxi duty and music making. I was asked to get on stage with a band called Crazy & The Brains from New York to play “People Who Died” at Rebel Lounge as they are in town playing with Adolescents. Michael is playing, too, so that will be cool. It will be a few minutes of fun, for sure, and it will also be fun to see Adolescents after doing that cover project last year.
It’s a super simple song to play and I can have a little fun with the bass line here and there, too. I had never even attempted to play it until last night and even though it is a little daunting to jump up on stage and rock it without a practice, it will be just fine. Nobody will be watching what I’m doing or caring about the bass line, anyway.
Only bass players care about the bass.
*****
Other than that, more errands to run today and a trip to the skin doctor to get checked out. I’m sure I’ve got a few spots on me that they might find interesting. Did I mention that getting older is fun? Sunscreen was never more of a priority for me than it is now. I probably should have had a closer relationship with it over the years. When I was younger, I had a few really bad sunburns, so I stayed out of it as much as possible, but I do live in Arizona.
*****
Back to The Bet over the weekend, I think.
*****
See you tomorrow.
A street corner in Bangor, ME. IT is relevant.
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