Dearest Rachel –
I won’t go so far as to say that you would be proud of the two of us – if nothing else, I can’t verify that I was conscious the entire time – but I did manage to stay up with Daniel until well past eleven last night. This, after a mildly chaotic night at Sparks (which isn’t saying much either, as any gathering of fifty-plus K-2 kids is going to be chaotic by their very nature) that should have rendered us both worn out. And to be fair, maybe I was, but like you back in the day, I wasn’t up to admitting it, but that seems slightly out of character for me.
In any event, by the time I called it a night because I was starting to become aware of my growing lassitude, it was getting late enough that you’d think I would sleep the sleep of the dead (or do I have no idea, honey?) until some time by which the growing sunlight would seep through the curtains and blinds. But after dreaming of being able to start and juggle three different topics to discuss with you – and no, I don’t know what any of them were, more’s the pity – I woke up in pitch darkness, sweating profusely.
Now, you might be forgiven for thinking that, with an introduction like that, I was telling you about the onset of yet another illness. Which would be most unfortunate, as I think I recovered from one barely a month ago. But no; I woke up just that warm.
You see, this past day or so has been unseasonably warm – dare I say hot? – for early/mid October. Even as we were leaving Sparks last night, my car’s thermometer claimed that the ambient outdoor temperature was touching ninety, and while we were dubious about that, we were forced to accept that it was, in fact, somewhat squarely in the eighties. Not only that, but yesterday was actually surprisingly humid as well – although given that the area seems to think that it’s still summer, it’s only reasonable, as Heat and Humidity are considered legal partners during those months. It’s just weird to have these associates still hanging out their shingle this late in the year.
But as I assumed that the cool of the night would eventually cause temperatures to drop, I’d gone to bed wearing my usual fuzzy black robe, regardless. Since the bedroom isn’t connected to the house’s HVAC system, I concluded that it would likely be the first place to fall below what would be considered to be a comfortable ‘room temperature’; and if that trend held, my precautions would be considered perfectly prudent.
The trend did not hold, however. Even after more that twelve hours of the sun’s absence, the outdoors had not yet even attained room temperature, let alone slipped below it to the point of discomfort. As a result, the bedroom stayed equally warm, and my being bundled up as I was proved… let’s just call it “excessive.”
I woke up before six in the morning, sweating.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the cold sweat of terror (despite my concerns from earlier in the week about untouched assignments), nor of budding illness (indeed, breaking out into a sweat would be a good sign if I was sick, since it would be the moment a fever broke. But as I haven’t had one, the point is moot). This was simply a case of being too warm, of having wrapped myself in layers that I didn’t need overnight, and only realizing it once I was forced to wake up from it.
Worse yet, I couldn’t return to sleep at that point; despite the darkness of the hour, it was still verging on the beginning of the day, so it wouldn’t be prudent to try to drop back off to slumber, even assuming I could do so. So I took my time as I assembled myself to hit the gym; if I had already been sleeping up a sweat, I might as well head up there to work up even more of one, and maybe drop a pound or two for my efforts.
On my way out, I very nearly bumped into Daniel; it seemed that he had been woken up at approximately the same time – although knowing him, not necessarily for the same reason, as he’s not nearly as well-insulated as I am. More likely, he’d drifted off at the same time I had, but since that was still early for him, he’d gotten in his quota of sleep hours already, despite that realization not hitting him at that hour. He had tried to go back to sleep, in fact, but as his body felt it already had gotten enough, he’d been just laying there until he had to get up to use the washroom. I felt somewhat bad to leave him there at that point, but I’d already put myself together to go – and Daniel has been supportive of my attempts to work out – so I let him know what was up and headed out regardless. He’d probably be just as happy to surf the web uninterrupted, anyway.
Anyway, with that taken care of, and a little bit of war-rooming with him over breakfast, I expect to put in a fairly short few hours here at the ‘office’ before returning home to spend a few hours with him out and about. I hesitate to call it ‘quality time,’ since it’s mostly errands rather than anything particularly pleasant, but if we can find a little comfort in the commonplace, it should make up for my leaving him to his own devices earlier this morning. If there’s anything interesting about any of it, I may fill you in tomorrow, but I’m not making any promises. Either way, you take care until then.
