Dearest Rachel –
You were usually asleep on those many weekdays, but you might have been aware of how early they would start on my side of the bed and room. For the most part, though, you seemed to be able to sleep through the sound of the alarm on my side and the noise of the shower from the master bathroom (although in fairness, there was a hallway’s width between the rooms). Even the waterproof radio your folks gave me one Christmas, blaring the news of the day while I washed up escaped your notice. Then again, I eventually dispensed with it as we had been advised to spend a certain amount of time in prayer instead – and as the days and years wore on, there was more and more at my job to pray about.
It’s been so long that I can barely remember if I took my breakfast in the dining room (within sight of where Daniel was sleeping) or in our bedroom in front of my computer table, but in either case it was spent mostly in the dark, so as not to disturb either of you, with only the light of one computer or another as I went through my news feed and various potential entertainments to gather for later. The darkness persisted even in the summer, as I made a point to get to the office before Mohinder, lest he arrive around eight and not find me already at my desk, working. But I know you always got a goodbye kiss on my way out, so you were at least somewhat aware of my departure.
That all changed for those few months after you allowed me to retire. While I was advised to – and you agreed that I should – keep up a certain level of occupational routine, I wasn’t making any great push to make it to my new ‘office’ anywhere near as early as I used to. Setting aside the fact that I didn’t have a boss to impress (or more accurately, not disappoint), there wasn’t any point to showing up at the folks’ house while they were still getting up in the morning – although let’s face it, I was taking more time to wake up than they were at that point.
Which only got to be that much more so when the lockdowns came down. At that point, there was no (or very little, anyway) getting out of the house at all, so why get up with any alacrity? Besides, we had each other, and all that implied; there was no need to get up out of bed or get dressed for the longest time in the morning. I think we enjoyed those days about as well as anyone could, given the circumstances.
I seem to have drifted off topic, though. My point is, I don’t usually get into the ‘office’ with any rush these days. To be sure, that has more to do with my getting up and working out (which is something you never saw me doing, more’s the pity) than any actual slothfulness on my part. Indeed, I might argue I’m that much further removed from laziness, by adding exercise to my daily routine like I have been. However, the fact that I take time to recover from these exertions, by cleaning myself up afterward and, admittedly, lingering over breakfast, means that my ‘work’ day tends to start at what a younger me would have considered to be an obscenely, if enviably, late hour.
Now, while I do show up at the ‘office’ by nine on occasion, that’s generally because I’ve eschewed any trip to the gym that day. That, in turn, is due to the fact that I’ve scheduled myself to leave ‘work’ early, after putting in a mere hour or so (often mostly spent writing you, in fact), to meet Lars at the forest preserve. Essentially, I’m swapping one form of exercise for another. It almost never has anything to do with any actual ‘work’ schedule per se. And I hardly need to tell you I like it like this; although it would be that much better were you still here, the siren delaying me that much longer on any given day.
Today, however, is a little different. I’ve got actual work to do, in the form of a phone call with the folks reviewing the church’s financial statements. It’s not exactly an audit as I used to experience it in the work farce, but it’s near as it gets. Between the two of us, we’re trying to confirm the path between the numbers as I’ve given them and the summarized reports they assemble; hopefully before the board meeting this Thursday. But thus far, there have been a few items that we’re trying to iron out; hence the call.
Since he’s based out of Indiana (that is one thing about the modern age; no one has to be physically present to go through the data like things used to be. Everything can be emailed back and forth, with limited actual face-to-face dealings. You can decide for yourself whether that’s good or bad), his day starts earlier than mine, so I need to adapt for that. This means skipping the gym for another day (despite waking up on the wrong side of the two-twenty line; but that’s what comes of doing both dinner and dessert with Daniel yesterday before Sparks) and arriving at the ‘office’ to go over the documents in question before he calls, so that things can go that much smoother.
And with that being said, I’d like to think that everything seems to have worked out at this point. We went over the differences, I’ve put together some more data for him, and I expect there will be something from him to look into tomorrow that should finalize everything. We’re not done just yet, but we’re well on our way.
I realize this isn’t particularly exciting stuff to tell you about – such is the life of accountancy, regardless of what we may have seen in the movies…
…but this is the stuff we used to talk about, way back when; the whole “how was your day?” stuff all married couples engage in. Besides, you would have been curious as to why I’d be heading out to the ‘office’ so early compared to most days, so… here’s that explanation, whether you wanted it or not.
Anyway, at this point, I have to get back on with my day, so I’m going to let you go. Just… remember to keep an eye on me if you can, and wish me luck. I’m sure I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 