Monday and Tuesday

Mondays are never a struggle for me. After 28 years of practice, I still look forward to seeing my patients and solving problems. In fact, I have a more difficult time trying to manage a day off. I always have the urge to do far too much and have to make a superhuman effort to do less and try to relax. I am not yet adjusted to taking a day and a half off each week, but will keep trying (another New Year's resolution). My Monday was busy but not too much so. I had another board meeting at the end of the day. I am still trying to save this nonprofit with a voice of reason. I am not sure I enjoy the meetings, but I want to contribute in a positive way, and leave it better off than when I started with it.

It is cold in Baltimore, with some snow flurries but nothing that stays on the ground. I hear that it is dry and my skin feels tight and itchy, but the wind and the damp penetrate and I have little desire to be outside. Especially when I go to yoga class late at night, often dressed lightly because the yoga room is heated to 98 degrees. The dash from my car to the studio is painful, but not so bad when I am overheated and returning to my car.

I was worried about Eric on his motorcycle. There is definitely ice on the road in places. I have been pushing to buy a new car for weeks now, but Eric keeps saying that renting a zipcar when he needs it is cheaper than the cost of a vehicle. Today at 12:32 I received an email at work that he had been in a solo vehicle accident on Charles close to the house and had destroyed his motorcycle. An ambulance happened to be driving by and stopped to check on him. He is scraped up and bruised, but did not hit his head or lose any limbs, and he was able to push his motorcycle off the road and call Noah to pick him up. Whew. Lucky lucky man.

I think that is the end of his beloved Ducati motorcycle. He bought it two weeks before Maya was born and I remember being rather astonished that he would make an expensive purchase at such a time in his life, but I said little. He has been on his motorcycle 365 days a year, in all sorts of weather conditions and temperatures, and has taken it on long drives whenever possible. He has crashed it a few times and spent hours in the garage working on it, and has nursed it back to health several times. He loves his 'Monster' and it always gives him more joy than almost anything else. I wonder what he will do next.

I was discombobulated the rest of the day. Unsettled, unable to focus. Life is tenuous and precious and it takes just a moment for our lives to change dramatically.