Thursday, January 29, 2009

Are You Nuts?

This winter has been a nasty one for a lot of folks. To say that I am sick and tired of it would be a gross understatement. The past four days here it has been gloomy, cold as hell, spitting snow. But today, finally the sun came out in all its glory. The temp about 10 degrees. So I bundled myself up and went out for a walk.

There's a school up the street from me with a 1/4 mile running track. The walk to the track and back and one trip around the track is about a half mile. I haven't walked much the past few months, so a half mile would be far enough until I get my walking legs back. On the way back home, my back started to hurt, my knees were giving out, I was colder than a well-digger's ass, and my nose was running like an open spigot. But the sun was so bright and awesome, it was worth it.

When I got to my porch, I didn't really feel like going inside. So I sat on a lawn chair on the porch. Well, the sun moved off my porch, and it was pretty dumb to sit there in the shade in 10 degree weather. So I picked up the chair and moved it to the center of the driveway where the sun was still full. I sat and enjoyed the looks of the people that drove by in their cars, and waved to a few of them. I saw my neighbor from across the street come out with just a sweater on. He hugged himself as he tried to stay warm and crossed the street.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"What the hell does it look like? I'm sunning myself."
He shivered. "Do you know what the temperature is?"
"Yeah"
"What's the matter with you? Are you nuts?"
I took off my sunglasses and looked at him. "Let me get this straight. You're out in almost single-digit weather with just a sweater on and you ask me if I'm nuts? "

He shook his head and went back across the street. I sat in my chair about a half an hour, until jack frost did more than just nip my nose, he downright chawed on it. I went in the house and saw my little dog was asleep in the chair, belly-up. She didn't bother to get up, but wagged her tail a few times. I rubbed her belly, she went back to sleep. All the excitement had made me tired too, so I laid down on the couch to get some zzzz's.

As I laid there, I thought about that old song, "What The World Needs Now Is Love". I agree with the sentiment, but in our modern day it can be pretty damned hard to keep love in your heart when you're working your ass off, dead on your feet, and got a lot of worries on your mind. So maybe before the world can even handle all that love stuff, what the world needs right now is a nap. Not just a 10-minute power nap either. But a belt-unbuckling, pillow cuddling, mouth-slobbering, dead-to-the-world nap. For at least an hour. So I took one. I wish all of you could have done the same. And some people call me nuts...

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