Tales of the Ordinary Days

"Are we back to normal again?" I heard my father-in-law, Larry (aka Old Guy), asking Garrett this as I laid in bed.  Garrett was performing his morning ritual of coffee bean grinding before brewing our morning specialty coffee. This was after he had read and stretched, all while I was still thinking about waking up. Through the crack in the door, I could see Larry sitting, feet up, in his favorite sofa spot. Jake, my step-son, was noisily filling his large water jug for a day in the sun at his summer job. This clanging of ice at 7 am along with the permeating coffee aroma and Larry's shuffling have been my morning wake-up routine of recent times. With my delivered cup of hot java, I hear the sounds of the morning; the garage door opening with Garrett taking Jake to work and the percolating of Larry's own coffee of choice, Folgers, in his Mister Coffee machine. His own pot to drink through the morning while enjoying his latest book. Yes, Larry, I think we are ...

Enjoying the scenery, sun, fresh air I just finished a gorgeous bike ride. Twenty miles of Colorado beauty right outside my front door. A new normal is beginning. People are venturing out again. Cars and trucks traveling the county road towing paddleboards, kayaks, and rafts; enjoying Memorial weekend. People feeling the outdoors itch was evidenced by the number of bicyclists climbing the winding stretch of County Road 240 east of Durango up to Lemon Dam. Garrett was intermingled with this chain gang, maintaining his own pace but looping back occasionally to check on me. "Good job!" "How are you doing?" "Almost to the top. You got this!" His words of encouragement as he breezed by me. With my love language - Words of Affirmation and Garrett's - Quality Time, this Sunday morning bike ride definitely resulted in a win-win. I have likened this isolation time as feeling like Garrett and I are on a weekend couples retreat that just doesn'...

Evidence of Kim and Garrett, on each side of me, while we enjoy the backyard fire. "Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it." - William Feather Last weekend marked days 75 and 76 of my 90 days off. I have quickly become aware that 90 days isn't as much time as one would think. It is going by fast for me. Too fast. The weekend was spent visiting friends in St. George, Utah. Craig has been a long-time friend of Garrett's, and Craig's girlfriend, Kim, a new friend to both of us. But as always seems the case with happy and fun people who naturally exude this disposition, it now feels like Kim is another 'old friend' as well. First let me point out that St. George, Utah is beautiful. I had never been there. The February weather was in the upper 60's. Mountains spiked our every view. And sunlight was abound. We traveled to St. George from Kingman on Saturda...