The group, 12 seniors in all, is not particularly close. They swim for four or five different summer and club teams, and most of them don't share interests outside the pool. But they're still friends, connected by the shared experience of pre-dawn practices in the chilly water of the county aquatic center pool. They shoulder-hugged and exchanged fist bumps as they lined up on the bulkhead, laughing as their bios and favorite swim team memories were read aloud. The whole thing took no more than 10 minutes, and then it was time to get back to work. I blew the whistle to start the 100 Fly races, and the meet continued.
And that's what the rest of this year will be like. A last band concert, a last track meet, a senior cut day, prom, and then graduation. Time marches resolutely on.
*****
It's Monday now, a regular work day for me, and the first day of work since before Christmas for thousands of federal employees. I'm not the first person to comment on the timing--a ground stop at LaGuardia, followed less than two hours later by the President's decision to reopen the government in exchange for zero dollars for the wall. There's no national emergency more pressing than rich people missing their flights. Anyway, I'm glad it's over, for now.
*****
So now it's Tuesday. I worked in the office until about 12:30 PM, and then I followed all of the rest of the lemmings home to beat the blizzard. I've been in the DMV for 20 years, and I'm exactly like everyone else here. Two inches of snow is an emergency, and the only reason why I didn't stop on my way home to buy every roll of toilet paper and every ounce of milk in the store is that I'm me. I was born bracing for a siege, and I don't run out of anything, ever.
The snow hadn't started this morning, so my sons went to school on time, much to their dismay and chagrin. They often complain when there aren't enough snow days. "This is a rip-off," they'll say. My answer is always the same: "Who did you pay?" They're getting their money's worth now--early dismissal today, and an already-announced two-hour delay tomorrow morning.
*****
Wednesday: The two-hour delay turned into a full day off, so my sons won't have to demand a refund. It's icy icy freezing horrid cold, so the county has already called a two-hour delay for tomorrow. I'm home now, and after the short walk from my car to the parking lot across the street, I abandoned the idea of going to the gym. I'm in for the night.
My house is old, and in the coldest weather, it's drafty. The family room and kitchen are fine, but the bedrooms are cold. The hot water takes a long time to reach the bathrooms, and it runs out quickly, so cold-morning showers have to be quick. On days like today, I'm tempted to just go to sleep in my clothes, so I don't have to undress in the cold. But sometimes, I'm glad for a little discomfort. I drive a nice clean car from my nice clean house to a desk job in a nice clean office. A cold bedroom or a lukewarm shower save me from being spoiled.
*****
It's Thursday now and I think I wrote some nonsense yesterday about gratitude for the character-building cold. Who knows where I come up with this crap. It's freezing. Whatever.
But it will get warm again. Eventually. Meanwhile, let's talk about my hair, shall we? I got what appears to be a non-terrible haircut. This, as I have mentioned before, is rare enough that it's worth writing about. I say "appears to be" a non-terrible haircut because I legitimately can't tell for sure. The stylist blow-dried my hair to within an inch of its life and it's so straight and shiny right now that I don't even really recognize it. This will last exactly one day. Ain't nobody got time for that kind of hair effort. Tomorrow morning, I will perform my usual five-minute styling routine, and we'll see what my hair really looks like. I do love a surprise.
*****
So it's Friday now, and my hair is fine. It looks like my normal hair, only about 3/4 of an inch shorter. I worked from home today, and left the house only to pick up my son at the bus stop, so that he wouldn't have to walk home through the Antarctic cold. I picked him up 2 1/2 hours early--unexpectedly heavy snow prompted yet another early dismissal, so they went 5 for 5 this week: one scheduled day off, one snow day, one late start, and two early dismissals. A full week of school is going to kill these kids.
It was a productive day, and now I'm waiting out the last few minutes of the Capitals' All-Star break, which followed a horrendous 7-game losing streak that included a 7-2 loss to Nashville, a hideous overtime loss to San Jose after the Sharks scored to tie the game with ONE SECOND remaining, and a brutal beatdown at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The puck drops in ten minutes.
*****
OMG, that was the longest 57 seconds. The streak has ended; and a rodent meteorologist is apparently promising an early spring. It's already above freezing, so things are looking up. Until next week...
The snow hadn't started this morning, so my sons went to school on time, much to their dismay and chagrin. They often complain when there aren't enough snow days. "This is a rip-off," they'll say. My answer is always the same: "Who did you pay?" They're getting their money's worth now--early dismissal today, and an already-announced two-hour delay tomorrow morning.
*****
Wednesday: The two-hour delay turned into a full day off, so my sons won't have to demand a refund. It's icy icy freezing horrid cold, so the county has already called a two-hour delay for tomorrow. I'm home now, and after the short walk from my car to the parking lot across the street, I abandoned the idea of going to the gym. I'm in for the night.
My house is old, and in the coldest weather, it's drafty. The family room and kitchen are fine, but the bedrooms are cold. The hot water takes a long time to reach the bathrooms, and it runs out quickly, so cold-morning showers have to be quick. On days like today, I'm tempted to just go to sleep in my clothes, so I don't have to undress in the cold. But sometimes, I'm glad for a little discomfort. I drive a nice clean car from my nice clean house to a desk job in a nice clean office. A cold bedroom or a lukewarm shower save me from being spoiled.
*****
It's Thursday now and I think I wrote some nonsense yesterday about gratitude for the character-building cold. Who knows where I come up with this crap. It's freezing. Whatever.
But it will get warm again. Eventually. Meanwhile, let's talk about my hair, shall we? I got what appears to be a non-terrible haircut. This, as I have mentioned before, is rare enough that it's worth writing about. I say "appears to be" a non-terrible haircut because I legitimately can't tell for sure. The stylist blow-dried my hair to within an inch of its life and it's so straight and shiny right now that I don't even really recognize it. This will last exactly one day. Ain't nobody got time for that kind of hair effort. Tomorrow morning, I will perform my usual five-minute styling routine, and we'll see what my hair really looks like. I do love a surprise.
*****
So it's Friday now, and my hair is fine. It looks like my normal hair, only about 3/4 of an inch shorter. I worked from home today, and left the house only to pick up my son at the bus stop, so that he wouldn't have to walk home through the Antarctic cold. I picked him up 2 1/2 hours early--unexpectedly heavy snow prompted yet another early dismissal, so they went 5 for 5 this week: one scheduled day off, one snow day, one late start, and two early dismissals. A full week of school is going to kill these kids.
It was a productive day, and now I'm waiting out the last few minutes of the Capitals' All-Star break, which followed a horrendous 7-game losing streak that included a 7-2 loss to Nashville, a hideous overtime loss to San Jose after the Sharks scored to tie the game with ONE SECOND remaining, and a brutal beatdown at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The puck drops in ten minutes.
*****
OMG, that was the longest 57 seconds. The streak has ended; and a rodent meteorologist is apparently promising an early spring. It's already above freezing, so things are looking up. Until next week...
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