I spent all day at work trying to psyche myself up to run. For one thing, I needed a blog post. Then my back started to hurt. Then I thought of my dog, Tabby, who likes to go for a walk, and I felt guilty. True, she walks my cool down with me, but that is only ten minutes.
Finally I reached a compromise: If it was nasty weather (which Tabby does not like to walk in), I would run. If not, I would see if my husband, Steven, would like to go for a walk with me and Tabby, which, of course, is one of Tabby’s favorite things to do.
I outlined my plan to a co-worker. I’m always telling people my plans. It increases the likelihood of my following through on them.
“That’s my plan,” I finished.
“And you’re sticking to it,” she added.
“I will try to stick to it,” I admitted. “If I come home and Steven has a pot of coffee and says, ‘Do you want a cup of coffee, honey?’ I’m having coffee.”
She thought this was a good plan too. And that is what I ended up doing. First I had coffee. Then we went for a walk.
I left on my army pants, which I wear to work, but changed into a long-sleeved shirt. Then I put on one of my Christmas sweatshirts, black with cardinals on holly branches with snow falling. An insulated sweatshirt and my toque (rhymes with “spook”) completed my ensemble.
I take so much time telling about my plan to walk and what I wore, because it was a pretty uneventful walk. The vague snowflakes that had been falling had stopped, and there was very little breeze. It was just about to get dark, my favorite time of day.
We admired many Christmas decorations, pointing out to each other all the lights on porches and trees visible through windows. I especially like different colored lights, but white or monochromatic can be nice, too. I restrained Steven from stealing any hard plastic light up snowmen we saw, but we did envy them.
I counted three houses in one block with candles in the windows, one of Steven’s favorite looks, then amended it to four, although the fourth only had a candle in one window.
By the time we got home it was almost dark. I pointed out how Halloweeny the bare trees looked against the grey sky. I like to mix up the holidays a little.
At this point, I am a little embarrassed, because this is a pretty dull post, even for me. However, it is Christmas time. We’re all busy. Maybe most people were even too busy to read this far. Perhaps it would have made a better post if I had let Steven steal the snowman. Questions to ponder.
I’ll try to plan a better post for tomorrow.
