Dragging Him Out of the House

Dearest Rachel –

It’s probably completely unnecessary for me to do this; Daniel has gotten out of the house on a regular basis in my absence. Partly out of necessity, of course, since I’ve not been around to go shopping for whatever the household may lack over these last couple of months, but also for the sheer fun of it, however uncharacteristic of him that might seem to be. I already knew that, while I was at the office during the weekdays, he would occasionally head up to what we always called “the triangle” and get himself a sub at jersey Mike’s and a drink at the Tropical Smoothie Café. At this point, in fact, it had become a weekly ritual for him to do so.

But in my absence, he’s added a new such ritual that all but requires him to get out of the house at least once a week (apart from going to church on Sundays, and kid’s club on Mondays – although the latter has ended along with the school year). It seems that a Korean bowl place opened up a mile or two north of us while I was gone, and there was a promotion in which the first hundred or so guests got the chance to win free food from the place for a year. He was one of those first guests, and as a result, he has a tickler file of cards that allow him a free bowl at the place every week. So between the two restaurants (although I suppose the original ritual involved two separate place, so it’s really between three places), there’s no real need for me to be dragging him out of the house or anything.

And yet, I still feel the to get him to do so; particularly since I’d mentioned going to a store that he’d never been to – well, at least, not in its current incarnation. We’d taken him there as a baby and a young child countless times when it was a… hypermarket? It was more than a supermarket, is what I’m saying.

But I’m getting rather ahead of myself. The first half of the day didn’t involve getting him out of the house at all; in fact, a fair part of it took place even before he woke up. Today was the day for me to decide whether and how to enroll in the fitness center down the street. I mentioned before the weekend that there was the possibility that it might be covered by our health insurance, and I was to look into it before making a commitment to the place. As it turned out, it could be covered, but it required paying an additional amount to my health insurance provider; a monthly amount that came to more than what I would pay for an annual fee to the fitness place. Needless to say, I didn’t bother with my insurance program, but rather simply purchased a year’s membership straight up from the center.

I’ve discovered that the place doesn’t seem to have a rowing machine, but I’m not too bothered by it, as it has a fair number of weight machines that the gym aboard the ship didn’t. So while I wouldn’t be recording any of that particular activity on that exercise app, I’m still working on this muscle or that, so something’s still getting done. Whether it can turn my keg into a six pack remains to be seen, but I’m willing to keep trying. I just wish you could see the progress being made (if for no other reason than you had a way of rewarding this kind of effort).

That, of course, is neither here nor there, but it does bring up the fact that I had an appointment this morning at my brokers just a couple doors down. I had debated about going there and then going to the gym, but when I woke up at five or so this morning, I figured it was just better to get the work out (and the registration) out of the way, and show up to go over my financial position shaved, showered, and reasonably well dressed, rather thanin gym togs. None of which is of any concern to you, being beyond the petty financial concerns of this particular world; still, if I’m going to tell you about my day, even the parts that don’t concern Daniel, I might as well mention this as well as everything else, because they could’ve gone differently. At least you have my word that I won’t bore you with the details about my investments – I would say ‘our’ investments, but I know better than that. One of these days I should probably talk to you about how strange it still is to be making investments and purchases completely unfettered by having to discuss them with anybody, but not today.

It’s at this point that I get Daniel involved in the story; upon coming back from the brokers’, I finally managed to get myself some breakfast, and suggested that Daniel could come with me this afternoon as I went to get gas in the car (and get a few provisions) at the local warehouse club. He’s not usually one to come up with things that he needs, so I thought having him along might spur him into picking out this or that – in much the same way that I’m a bit of an impulse shopper.

And, as it so happened, that seems to have worked a little bit. Not that he filled the cart with things he wanted – especially at the international market that has long since replaced Omni, and to which Daniel had never set foot until today – but he did grab the odd thing here and there, as well as making notes of things to pick up should the mood strike him in the future. And it’s entirely possible that it will, as the place is on his way to the Korean bowl place that he’ll be visiting every week from now until sometime next April, at the very least. So if he brings home the odd baked good or a few bottles of Ramuné or Jarritos, I know I’ll have no one to blame blame myself. Then again, it may be absolutely no concern of mine, as he’ll probably pay for it out of his own pocket; I need to give him credit for taking responsibility for his own expenditures, after all.

Anyway, that was basically my day – and his, for that matter. As for what we may do in the future well, honey, keep an eye on both of us. And wish us luck – I’m sure we’ll both need it.