Mar 21 2020
Stay
The monthly Bored meeting at work fell on Dad’s birthday. It was supposed to be a much longer meeting than usual – and it’s more than long enough – and would mean a much longer day than usual. I decided that I didn’t want to face the lengthy drive home after a day that would be at least 12 and might be as much as 14 hours long, so I asked a local innkeeper and friend if he happened to have a room for that night.
He not only had a room, he gave me a prix d’amie that I thought must be a typo due to its tininess. I double checked that there wasn’t a digit missing, and then happily took him up on his offer.
The morning of the meeting, I packed up my suitcase, checking it for moths since it hadn’t been used in so long, gave the cats as much food and water as their dishes would hold*, and headed out into the morning darkness, admiring the slim golden crescent moon and the bright, silvery Venus hanging over the ocean.
The meeting was changed at the last minute and was much shorter than expected, so I got to the hotel before the sun set. I ordered dinner to be delivered and while I waited for it, went out on the balcony and watched the sun set as the ducks and pelicans swan serenely around the estuary below. I thought of Dad and how much I miss him, and how he would have approved of my working a long day on his birthday, since he loved his work so much. He used to say that he would have done his own work whether he was paid for it or not. He was lucky to feel that way. And I was lucky that he was my Dad.
*I am 99% sure that Clyde ate 50% of it. Lately, he has been more food obsessed than ever, walking all over me in bed and meowing starting around 3 am. Can cats be emotional eaters?
FIVE YEARS AGO: Wild turkeys and secretly expensive wine.
TEN YEARS AGO: A day at the beach.
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Thinking about Dad. And Mom.
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