TGIF

This has been one of the hottest weeks on record. Daytime temps of 104 - 111.  Nighttime temps of 90.  Deep bows to the air conditioning unit!  This is all so unbelievable.  We're trying to stay occupied in the confines of our house because going outside is just too painful.  I've lost a few potted plants to the searing heat, even though I moved them to shady spots and have kept them well watered.  (Talked with Richard, our exceptional mail carrier.  He served in the Middle East.  He's got this.  Starts shift earlier, carriers frozen water bottles, wears long sleeves and a giant straw hat.)

Video series such as Imperial Beach and I Love Dick provide entertainment (Amazon).  Calling my daughter for a good long chat provided much needed human contact.  I'm also keenly aware that in a few days she will be arriving to nest with us while her husband packs up their apartment and heads off to their new home in Colorado.  I fly out with my daughter and the kids in early July.  I'm taking deep breaths when this realization hits me.  Panic, unbidden and unwelcome, will overtake me unless I manage my stress around this whole move thing.  I keep reminding myself that I will still see and talk to them regularly, and that this new phase of their live is a wonderful adventure for all of them.  I am only a plane ride away.

Earlier in the week, we went to a computer repair shop in Sacramento.  While it was 104 degrees outside.  Steve talked me into it, because I really don't like venturing out on these hot days.  But he was so sweet, and smiled so nicely, I could not resist.  The road was congested at 1 in the afternoon!  Deep bows to the car's a/c!  The shop was air conditioned as well, and packed with customers.  I took a seat on a bench next to a couple of gals of a certain age, and we had a fun conversation about the vicissitudes of modern tech life.  They were really clever, and friendly.  While I was talking to them I had a sudden realization:  I knew them!  In my former life at the university.  The head honcho and her second in command.  Hit me like a thunderclap.  I didn't let on, since I did not want to revisit those tortured times with them.  University life can be like shark invested waters after the chum has been dropped.  I knew them as "the suits," the "bad guys" and duplicitous mother fockers.  I did not like them, Sam I Am.  I did not like them with green eggs and ham.

So imagine my surprise 12 or so years down the line to find myself completely enjoying their company.  I went out to our car, turned on the a/c and immediately called a good friend from those university days.  "YOU WONT BELIEVE WHO I AM CHATTING WITH AT THE COMPUTER REPAIR STORE!"  Needless to say, I made her day.  Life is so damned strange.  My PTSD almost kicked in when I figured out who I was talking with.  My phone call to Robin brought me back to center.  We had a good laugh about it all.  Whew.  I was terrified that they would recognize me, but then remembered I was an extremely low person on the totem pole of the university hierarchy.  Thank Goddess for that.

How's that for strange?  What a week.  Christ on a Bike.

And I ain't even talking about the mess in D.C.  No, not gonna go there.

Kisses.