a typical day

alarm clock goes off at 4:45 am and the snooze button gets pushed around three times before i phone my dearest friend and exercise partner for reveille, time to wake her up and prepare for Hour of Power or Bikini Boot Camp at the gym. having popped a synthroid and gotten dressed for the gym, it's coffee, packing up the noise reduction headphones and a short drive to my friend's house. the signal of my high beams on her driveway usually alerts her but sometimes i have to cellphone her inside to get her attention. being a major tightwad i bring my own coffee but she is still purchasing three dollar coffee from starbucks so we ooze through the drive by window and flash her paul mccartney starbucks card. it is a long trudge up the three story stairwell at the fitness center. i mean you have to be in great shape before you ascend the stair case to get into great shape. at our ages we hold on tight to the railing. once in awhile i am perky enough to run up but not often. towel pick up, selection of a treadmill positioned as close as possible to our favorite cable channel where we bill and coo over steve doocy. after one full hour of trodding the mill, we wipe our brows, toss the towel into the bin and holding on even more tightly to the railing, descend out into the daylight and the short drive home.

it is now 7:15 am.

in my full nest days none of this would have been possible -- for years my friend and i spoke of the day when we'd have these early morning hours free and all to ourselves, arranged around her need to be in her office downtown by 8:30 am. and now that it is here, i rather like it. i like having my exercise regimen done, finito, finished by this early hour for i have always loved the early morning. i loved rising early to wake sleeping children and pack lunches and sling hash and sign papers and check homework and drive carpools. i didn't make much time for fitness. it just got avoided mostly. this early routine is a big part of adjusting to the nest that is now empty. it happens monday through friday -- and as long as my friend needs that early morning wakeup call, i relish rising well before the sun.

i now attend an aa meeting daily; during the week it is usually at 10:30 and on the weekends at 8:30. gee are y'all totally bored by now? this is not scintillating reading. i trust my writing skills will improve with practice.

yes, aa. i got sober eight months ago. for me alcoholism was a disease of isolation and it is a treatment of social interaction. the thirty or so minutes before and after the meeting are a delight most days. i love the characters, the variety of people from every walk of life, the new ideas derived from the oldtimers that demonstrate life can be satisfying and full -- better sober.
it's true for me.

OK, so thus far I've exercised, had coffee, showered, gone to an aa meeting. i fetch an aa friend and we attend the funeral of a fellow member who had the kindest heart but the most astoundingly bad combover. in life i could barely gaze upon him with a straight face. ok i am being honest here. it was a very bad bad combover. the funeral was not terribly well attended so it's a good thing i went. something in me wanted it to be this gigantic circus of people who thought the world of him and were inspired by his good nature. i was a little saddened by our small congregation.

since my friend and i were pretty gussied up and hungry for late lunch we repaired to a popular italian restaurant for calamari, shrimp and house salad. and tapwater. Tune in again. this is a work in progress.