’Tis a Dreary Day Out, Today
This has been the longest February so far this year!
I had plans to get up early today and get some things done, especially since yesterday was such a lovely, bright, sunshiny day outside and I missed it because I was in dialysis all day yesterday. I was anticipating today would be another lovely, bright, sunshiny day again!
Texas had other plans for me, though.
I woke up this morning, thinking I had overslept (oversleep? But I have no job to get up for!). When I looked at my watch, though, my eyes noticed that it was dim in my room, so I didn’t parse well what my watch said. I just thought it was about dawn-ish, and rolled over and went back to sleep.
Then I woke up again some time later, and looked at my watch again. It looked the same level of dim in my room, and the watch face looked like the hands hadn’t moved, so I closed my eyes again.
The next thing I knew, the phone across the room was ringing. Who could that possibly be, calling us at dawn?! I checked my watch again, still sure it was dawn — it was dim enough in my room for that to be true.
It was after 10:00am!
So much for me getting up early.
I rolled out of bed, fussed about getting my oxygen line untangled from my legs, and the phone stopped ringing. Great, someone else must’ve gotten it. There’s a reason we have four handsets for that line. Still, I was getting awake now.
I twitched my bedspread straight, a habit I recently revived after getting a lovely new bedspread for Christmas, and staggered to the bathroom to continue waking up. This was going to be one of those dim, dark days, I could tell. I needed the light on in the bathroom, which I don’t need on bright days.
After brushing my teeth, I needed to go run an errand, so my sister took me out to do that and get some groceries at the same time. The wet grass clung to my shoes as I walked through it to the car, and the car door handle left my fingers dripping. Joy. And it was as dark outside and overcast and misty as my dim bedroom had promised. One day of sunshine was all we got. Texas weather, am I right?
Neither trip took long, though, and we got home without incident. Our mother came out to help us carry in groceries and was shocked (and dare I say appalled?) that we only had three items. Why waste a perfectly good trip to the grocery store by only buying three items?! You’re only going to need to go back again in a few days, after all!
The morning having been completely shot, I settled down with a bowl of cereal and had a (late?) breakfast, then hopped online here to see what was new. I checked my list of things I wanted to get done today. A couple of phone calls, check. I did those and marked them off my list. Pay a bill, check. It’s ready to go in the mail. Put away my clean clothes I washed on Sunday … we have someone coming over soon, before I’d be able to get through with that. Put that on hold. Maybe I’ll get that done this evening. Write a post for Medium, that I can do before our friend gets here.
Outside, it’s still dark and dim through my windows, and I’m hearing the shhh shhh of cars passing by on the damp roads. I have my lovely warm woolen socks on that my sister made for my birthday, and my space heater on full bore behind me, warming my room to the point where I almost don’t need to wear a sweater when I’m sitting right beside it, though I still have brief shivers every now and then. Why is it that when it’s wet outside, it feels so much colder than it really is?
I think I’ll just stay inside for the rest of the day.
