Ugh. This afternoon I worked cleaning up a friend’s garage and backyard and got filthy dirty, absolutely covered in sweat and deep-woods bug repellent. I love being employed, but yuck. Thankfully, all that’s left to do is bundle up some branches and set them by the road. Anyway, I rushed home afterwards in order to take a shower (ah-glorious) then head to a dance lesson with my friends Bonnie and Todd at their house. Running a bit behind, I texted Bonnie–“I’m on my way.”

Bonnie’s reply: Thumbs up.

Arriving at Bonnie and Todd’s, I let myself in the front door and found Bonnie and Todd in the kitchen. “Want some dinner?” they said. “The answer’s always yes,” I replied. What a lovely surprise! I thought. Anyway, when we finished dinner, I said, “Are y’all ready to dance?”

They paused.

“Didn’t we schedule that for tomorrow night?”

I paused.

“Oh crap. That’s right, we did. I guess I got confused.”

Y’all, these are the kinds of friends (and dance students) you want to have. Not only did Bonnie and Todd rise to the occasion and do their scheduled lesson a night in advance, but they also didn’t make a fuss about the fact that I invited myself over and ended up eating half their evening meal.

I said, “What did you think when I sent the message about me being on my way?”

Bonnie said, “I thought, Marcus is coming over!”

Later I joked, “Normally I’m running late to almost everything, but tonight–for once!–I was EXTREMELY EARLY.”

Now it’s 11:30, and I’m ready for bed. I’m plumb wore out. I haven’t read a single page of anything all day. The only thing I want to do is crawl into bed with a book about the constellations and read until I pass out. Or just pass out. I need to take care of myself. This promises to be a long week–full of work and plenty other things to do–so the more rest I get, the better. My affirmation for today is, I take care of my body, and my body takes care of me.