Okay so the clinic walk was supposed to be an easy lunchtime thing, not me trying to stay ahead of two nurses who apparently walk everywhere at escape speed. By the second block my shirt was sticking between my shoulders and I had stopped contributing to the conversation, a medical first. Nothing hurt. I was just hot and breathing harder than I expected for somebody moving on a sidewalk. Back at the desk my legs felt pleasantly loose, and I drank the entire bottle of water I normally carry around as decoration. I could do that again. Maybe with enough time left to eat lunch while sitting down.

I found a waffle maker in the back of the cupboard while looking for a pan and spent ten minutes planning a whole breakfast for everybody before remembering why it was back there. Takes forever, makes one waffle, and then you clean it while everyone else has finished eating. Still works, though. My first thought was to order a bigger one, which my daughter would have enjoyed catching me doing. Now I'm wondering whether pancakes are basically the same breakfast with less equipment and no exciting purchase involved. Probably. I put the waffle maker on the counter anyway. We already own this particular bad idea.

My daughter said the concert sounded fun and asked whether she could come. I had to explain that the other ticket was for the woman I'm seeing. She said okay, honestly a perfectly normal okay, but I felt awful because I'd been talking about this band for years and never thought to ask her first. I immediately offered a different trip, bowling, anything, until she told me I didn't need to buy her a consolation prize. That stung. Not because she was wrong. Later she sent me a song she thought I'd like and I was ridiculously relieved. I'm excited about the date. I just wish I hadn't managed to feel guilty about that too.