Laggin Behind

With the heat of the past few days, my body has been overwhelmed. I find myself running to the bathroom more times than I want to, and having to glob on the axle grease to keep any rashes from spreading. Puts a real cramp in the itinerary for walking and exercising.

But I do it anyways. If I can't walk outside to work, I go to someplace cool and walk inside. If you miss a day, its worse than standing still on a moving walkway. Its more like falling down an elevator shaft. Hard to get back on track. Drew disagrees with this philosophy. He feels that since he does a lot of outdoor exercise at soccer camp he should be driven there and back. I bite my tongue to keep the word Pansy from flying out of my mouth.

This morning he was adamant that he was not going at all. Too hot. When he realized that I wasn't letting him out of it, he was none too happy. He grumbled all the way there, stopping every few feet to rest, sitting on rocks and curbs and grass and benches and anything else he could find.

I was late to work. But since work is flexible right now with all the moving, and since it was important to "encourage" him that one does not stop or quit just because the going gets a bit tough, I patiently edged him onward, pointing out little things of interest. He was still not happy with me when we arrived, but he was there.

At the end of the day, he flopped down in my office, red as a beet. It had been a long and exhausting day, and he was not looking forward to the walk home. No help for it. We started off slowly, catching a hot breeze here and there. We wandered in a zigzag pattern to take advantage of every ounce of shade, our mouths parched in the glare of the late afternoon sun.

We decided to stop at Jitters, a local coffee joint, for a fruit smoothie, so we turned down the main road that we usually don't walk on. Between us and Jitters was a Lawn Care place, and to prove that they know how to grow a green lawn, they had their water sprinklers going full blast. We had no choice but to walk through them since they sprayed over the sidewalk to hit the strip of grass near the curb. The only way to avoid them would be to step into the road which was full of home bound traffic.

We looked at each other and smiled. Drew said, "I double dare you." Well, I have never been known for my ability to resist a dare, especially a double one. "Don't worry," he informed me in a solicitous sort of way. "I'll protect you," and he moved between me and the sprinkler head.

We halted at the edge of the wet sidewalk, waiting for the water to move out of range, then stepped quickly into the target zone. Drew took the first hit of delicious cold water square on the chest, yelling "I'll save you Momma!" He flailed his arms wide and waved them around as if to scare the water away. I laughed. Almost as soon as the water spray passed us, back it came and he didn't see it coming. I got my fair share as he tried manfully to jump between the water and me. He no sooner took care of that wave than the next one hit.

We whooped and hollered like schoolkids. It was wonderful. My glasses were spotted and my pants were freckled with wet dots. His tee shirt was drenched and his shorts dripped. In a few short minutes it was all over and we were on the other side, hopping up the steps to Jitters. Two dark-tanned people sitting on the deck smiled at our appearance, having observed the whole scene. The lady raised her eyebrow and peered at me over the edge of her sunglasses, as if apprising my mental stability.

But we were cooler despite the 98 degree heat, and happy to sip a berry thunder smoothie while waiting for Kiel to join us (and coincidentally bring the car so we wouldn't have to walk home). Some days are just pure joy.