However, right there in black and white (or, you know, "pencil") I could clearly read where I'd written, "appointment with physical therapist", and if there's one fact I can always count on, it's that the planner never lies. So, off I went to kick start my Friday with some super-fun...exercises. Yay? I'm kidding--it was fine, really...and if the treatment succeeds in finally convincing my obnoxious left knee to calm down and behave (read: "stop hurting when I run, thankyouverymuch") it will be totally worth every ounce of work. Besides, the practice I chose to administer my p.t. program has two important things going for it: 1) they did a fabulous job with Riley when he saw them to rehab his broken leg and 2) they're located near...enough...to a Dunkin' Donuts to justify a coffee run either before or after each visit. Yep, that's what we call a Win/Win, y'all!
Once that task was accomplished, I opted for a bit of fun, taking a Friday...flower...Fall...field trip. I'd read about a rose garden--free and open to public wandering--located behind a theater in Raleigh. Although today technically marked the Autumnal Equinox, the weather didn't seem to have gotten the message, providing yet another blazingly sunny, scorchingly hot, damply muggy day. So it was somewhat of a sweaty endeavor, admiring all of the brightly colored, well-manicured blooms...but at least I couldn't complain about the conditions, which were perfect for my camera to capture the beauty. And the occasional obliging insect as well!
After Part One of the entertainment portion of my day, I had a couple of hours to knock out some chores: buy new socks, check; squeeze in a quick workout, check; pick up my race bib for tomorrow morning, check. Then...oh, yeah...leisure activities, Part Two, the Soccer Showdown. You see, the Chapel Hill Tigers (my kids' school team) were facing off against their cross-town rivals, the East Chapel Hill Wildcats (okay, the campuses are really only about a mile apart, but trust me, in a town this size, it's a Big Deal when they play each other, nevertheless). This first meeting of the season would be at East, so I headed over to cheer on Riley's squad.
Alas, in the initial 2017 Junior Varsity clash of the...ferocious felines....East came away with the victory. But fortunately, when I caught up with him after the game, Riley didn't seem too bothered by the defeat. Of course, this might perhaps be due to the fact that he'd already asked if we could pick up dinner at Subway...since it conveniently lay directly in our path on the way home....and because he knew his brother would be making sandwiches behind the counter that night. Believe it or not, somehow we had not yet stopped by to torment--I mean "offer our patronage to"--Derek during one of his shifts, so I agreed that it was high time we did so.
And I've gotta say, Riley seemed to get a huge kick out of ordering his older brother around and getting him to construct a sub to his exact specifications. On the other hand, there's really nothing I can eat there, so I had to amuse myself in a different way. Such as asking Derek as many inane questions as I could possibly think of while we had his full attention (there were no other customers at the moment who needed him--probably much to his chagrin). "Do you have gluten free bread?" I began. "Mom," he replied in an exasperated tone, "NO--this is SUBWAY!" Not to be deterred, I tried, "Is there any tofu?" He just glared at me and declined to respond, so I felt compelled to continue, "Are your vegetables organic?" He sighed. "Are your ingredients locally sourced?" Now he was completely ignoring me, but I was on a roll. (Ha! Sorry, that was actually unintentional...but see how I'm not erasing it? I'm just cracking myself up, at this point...) Finally he'd finished putting together Riley's sandwich, so I had to throw in my last query, "Honestly, do you guys make sure the animals where you get your...artificial, preservative-laden lunchmeat...are ethically treated?"
I'm probably lucky he didn't choose to chuck something at me, in hindsight...but he was absolutely a good sport about it--though I can only imagine how thrilled he must have been when he could ring us up, take our money...and get us (well...ME) the heck out of his hair. To be fair, I put a nice tip in the jar for his troubles, so I think he'll forgive me--eventually. Oh yeeeaaaeah, this is Derek we're talking about--the one whose ability to hold a grudge is, oh, approximately zilch...so I'm sure he's entirely forgotten about it by now! (That simply means I can get started on thinking up a new list of ridiculous things to badger him about the next time we just so happen to wander into his place of employment...mwah hah hah!)
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