Maxed

Inspirational song: Take It To the Limit (The Eagles)

Maximum activity levels reached today. There is nothing left in the tank. My daughter and I shopped for over two hours, for food, incidentals, and anything we could think of that we might need or want before the Littlest Smith arrives sometime in the next twelve days. We made a little tactical error by loading up my car with heavy bags of mulch, topsoil, and landscaping rocks first, before heading back into Walmart to walk and walk. That used up my energy reserves and inflamed my whole body far too soon. I thought I had royally screwed up by the time I was home, limping between the car and my porch, unloading the things I had gotten for our house. How was I going to get to all the things I still needed to accomplish?

After a brief snack, I started thinking seriously about napping away the afternoon, and then I remembered. My mother sent me that TENS unit last week. It was worth another shot. I set the patches on either side of my low back, cranked it up, and lay still for most of an hour. I didn't expect it to work so well, but I was up and moving after that, almost like a regular person. And that is where I made my second mistake.

There was supposed to be another one of those F-16 fly overs this evening. I made it outside in time to hear the planes, but there was no good line of sight on them from my block this time. While I waited, I picked up a trowel and started digging out a few dandelions and thistles. I should have walked away when I heard the planes but couldn't see them. Instead, I kept digging. A little in the paisley bed. A little in the front bed. And then I approached the Unless Garden. It was totally ignored last year. (I mean, really, take one summer off for a little cancer and the garden goes to hell. Who knew?) I tried to pull dandelions from the base of the cherry tree, and then I sat on the damp ground and really applied myself. I pulled live grass and dead grass. I dug weeds. I picked last year's dead bits out of the irises. I worked for at least an hour, pulling and pulling, just to uncover one small patch of vinca in bloom. It will take a month to uncover the whole bed.

I had to sit in the hot tub for an hour after that, to limber myself up enough to sit on the couch and rewatch the final installment of the Star Wars movies. Now I just want to tip myself over and close my eyes and not move until kid calls to tell me that labor has begun. I could happily sleep for days.