Last week, I went to a festival in downtown Akron. It was after work and a section of street was closed off on either end for shops and artwork. I met up with several people I knew and had some fun conversations. Had a bite to eat at a downtown deli, gave my opinion to a business-man who wanted to open a gourmet hotdog stand, bought some art (a decorative box), and saw someone on stilts. And in and among all that – I realized that I don’t like crowds.<\/p>\n
Too much noise, too much distraction. There were several times when the press of people made me want to run – but, of course, that was impossible by the very nature of the problem.<\/p>\n
I did okay and didn’t freak-out, but I’m once again glad that when I get home it’s just me and the cat. A little peace and quiet is kinda awesome.<\/p>\n
– ————–<\/p>\n
For lunch today, I took the Ladies from New York out to eat. Well, the Younger, anyway. The Elder was not up to lunch – though she was excited to be headed to the casino later that day. They both commented on how they nearly didn’t recognize me since I had gained so much weight since I last saw them. I thought perhaps they had noted that I’m sturdier because I’ve been exercising – but, no, they told me that it was just because I was getting older.<\/p>\n
Ummmm… thanks? I guess I could have been a little cranky, but I know for certain that they didn’t mean anything negative by it. It was as straight-forward as they could have been.<\/p>\n
Now, I’m a little softer around the middle than I would like, but I’m by no means heavy. So, I’m not going to let it get to me.<\/p>\n
Lunch was nice – I had a sensible chicken sandwich and the Younger had a half rack of ribs.<\/p>\n
Shrug.
\n– —————–<\/p>\n
After lunch, I went home and got changed into my swim gear and went to the lake. There’s a small public beach at the park and I dropped off my bag on the sand and hit the water.<\/p>\n
And it hit me right back. Coooooold. Worse than the pool, but of course not as cold as the Polar Bear Jump. I swam for a while, avoided the only other serious swimmer (in a wetsuit, no less), and took a short break to drink some clean water. I swam a bit longer and realized I was bored. So, I gathered up my gear and headed for home. I’m glad I went – apparently, I need the exercise – but I just wasn’t feeling it. I think it was that I didn’t really have much of a goal – just sort of swimming around. If there had been lane markers or some kind of final point to swim to, I think I would have done better. But, without a specific goal, I’m out of my element. I should have just kept an eye out for boats and swum across the lake.<\/p>\n
And I could do it, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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