Day 3,916 —Back to School—

It was so cold this morning that I wore three layers, including two hoods, to start my run. At first, it was frustrating because there was no shoulder, and I ended up having to run/walk over icy snowbanks for a time until I could cross the street and find my way to a subdivision or a parking lot with fewer cars.

I was scoping out the streets I will use this morning, driving for the first time since last Friday when my headlamp went out. Just like that, with no warning, it went dead. I was annoyed because I thought it was supposed to go into another setting before it did that, but whatever. I slowly returned to my house and realized how wet I was! I took off my jacket got a different headlamp to use and went back out to do a little more. It is not that I wasn’t in a hurry, but I was trying to get back into my normal wake-up routine but at the same time there wasn’t the normal deadline of me needing to be at work between 6:30 and 7. My son is down here with me as I am typing. He keeps hitting play on my record player, then hitting the button to speed up the record, and he hits the other button that makes it into 7-inch play. Sometimes I tell him not to and turn it off, but he mainly just smiles and laughs. Apparently, this is exactly what I was like as a kid. I might be a little skeptical, but I remember this home video of me at 2 or 3 digging mud with my big brother in our back yard in Texas. My dad told me over and over again to not come close to him with the camera, but that didn’t stop me from laughing and running after my dad with a shovel full of mud. I cannot be too mad at my little buddy. He thinks that he is spreading joy, and most of the time he is right. I wonder how many things I broke as a child. I remember I busted my lip open 3 different times before I was 8. I can still feel the stitches in my lower lip.    

It feels odd starting a normal routine on a Thursday, but alas, that is where we’re at in this unusual week of winter weather.

SLPS is still doing a virtual learning day, so I don’t have to go into the office or anything, but my daughter is back in person and my son will be going to daycare for the first time this week.

I would be surprised if we all end up going back tomorrow because today there is another winter weather advisory starting at 6 p.m. tonight and going until Friday, so there is supposed to be some additional snow, which makes me think at least SLPS will probably stay virtual, which will mean a full week of being at home for everyone in the district.