Day 76

I don't normally use the word "glorious" but when I walked out of work today that's what came to mind. I needed my sunglasses that were in my car and I'm sure my plants needed water. But first I had to pick up brochures leftover from this year's Michigan Student Film & Video Festival. The company that housed them is located near my work, so I volunteered to pick them up. Thankfully the former president of the sponsoring organization is housing all of the "stuff" so I headed over to her place to drop the boxes off in her basement. As I drove up, I knew something was different. "This looks great!" I said without a second thought after backing into her driveway. "I've been cleaning up the yard and the beds since 7:30 this morning," she replied. I understood in a way only another gardener ever could. We unloaded the boxes carefully so as not to cause me to spend a week glued to my couch. The day I turned 40 I got back pain. I don't know how but it found me. We finished the job and she asked if I wanted a beer. On a hot day like today, that invitation sounded good even to someone who doesn't really like beer all that much. Having never sat in her backyard before, I cooled off with a cold one while watching a blackbird take a dip in her pond.