An everyday day slowly begins....

The snooze bar took a few hits but finally seemed to be confused as to why the original wake-up time was selected if it was going to be so horribly delayed, so by 3am it was time to just shut the whole thing off and get up.

Button up shirts can be an amusing challenge, a good way to put the mind into "patience" mode at the very start of the day...as strong, thick, aging fingers struggle not only with coordinating tiny buttons into tiny holes...but another part of the brain has to wake up to use the correct button for the correct hole. It really doesn't seem to matter if it is dark or light at this point, since the eyes seem to know this can be done by "feel" so they are seemingly still hitting their own little internal snooze bar...or getting all their little neurons prepped and ready for when there is a real need for them...but not for something as mundane as buttoning a shirt, that is unless the thumbs and fingers for some reason just flat can't seem to get it done...which does on occasion happen, then the eyes draw the matter into focus to give supervisory support to getting the shirt buttoned up and buttoned right.

Ahhh...then its time to slide into the already-loaded overalls, and slip on the already tied New Balance 857's (a very good shoe in case an opinion is wanted)...wiggle the foot around a bit to make sure the custom made orthotic from the podiatrist is sitting just right under that spot that was SUPPOSED to have an arch but just never has had. Ahhh...yes, all is well.

A swig of water from a gallon jug, then another and another...the day has begun...with time to spare before the first "haf-to", good. High speed internet thru the Sprint pcs card while in Houston...excellent, maybe that article dealing with phantosmia that has been flaring up for a few years and keeps flaring up can be researched a bit further. Wow, that proved interesting.

4 am, still early, but a good time to fuel, not too busy. The tanks only took 97 gallon so it wasn't urgently needed but this IS Houston afterall so the relative peacefulness of 4am is a cherished time for getting stuff done.

Just think...a few days ago the schedule was setup to spend downtime in the suburbs of Denver, and just a quick 4 hour delay on the turn around in Houston...then with the blink of a satellite, everything changes and the 20 hours every 2 days downtime the next couple weeks gets to be enjoyed in the heart of Hades (..oops maybe that should have been "Houston" but the correctoribbon on this typewriter is used up). No no no DON'T "just think" about that...banish that negative thought...oh look there...some of that thin sliced Rubschlager sourdough bread from the deli is left, eat a couple slices...yeah, even though it might weaken the 100mcg of levothyroxine thats supposed to have the stomach all to itself for a half hour or so...go ahead...eat, there, all that icky negative thinking gone? Good, too early for that.

We should be ready for take off in a couple more hours...thats much more pleasant than "28 hours in Houston!!" The woman that approached last night offering "some company" looked like she was in her later 40's, mostly latino bloodline, dressed like a "mom" in fact looked like she could have just come from a PTA meeting...not the usual profile.

She handled the polite rejection well and quickly disappeared. Its always more "dignified" when they just withdraw and vanish without protest or vain attempts at "not take no for an answer" salesmanship. No doubt they are probably quite use to a reaction of judgement or abhorment , and are quite armored against letting that in, but when they are turned away with gentle words spoken as gently as if mr. rogers had said them himself, and eye contact that reveals a compassionate appraisal of their worth as a human...they seem to let down the guard for a moment ...a split second, as if somewhere deep inside they feel valued-loved-at peace ...then equally as abrupt, the mask comes back up and they continue their guarded life, searching for a paying customer.

Winter time officially begins soon doesn't it? The sun seems to sleep in late. Almost 7am and with the sun not visible in the sky, its almost as if the world is finding some other source of light. But alas, just because we can't "see" the sun...doesn't mean its not there. Nor does it mean we created the light ourselves, nor does it mean the light is in fact from another source...its still the same old sun, just not in our horizon of view yet. Then DARKNESS swooshes in like a whirlwind EARLY in the afternoon.

In a couple hours the sun will be up and hundreds of thousands of people around here will be hurrying to-and-fro. Surely by 9am, the flags will wave, the chute will open, and the one-stop flight to Denver will begin...but meanwhile, a tasty slice of balogna on that sourdough bread sure sounds like a good breakfast. Either that or a healthy bowl of oatmeal... decisions ,decisions.