A junior clerk called to tell me a soldier's pay issue was finally resolved. He had handled the last steps himself and wanted me to know before closing the file. I was proud of him, and relieved for somebody who had been checking an empty account. Then he thanked me for not making him feel stupid when he asked the same question twice. That stayed with me longer than the result. I know I can sound impatient. I had assumed the useful part of training was showing him where to look, not how I answered. I told my wife about it over dinner and she said she could hear how pleased I was. Apparently I had repeated the story.

My son asked how long a year is and I started with months, weeks and days, all correct and apparently useless. He wanted to know whether he would still like the same toys at his next birthday. I don't have a conversion table for that. We looked at an old photograph and he could remember the toy he was holding but not the trip we'd taken. I remember the trip by the training weekend we had to move it around. It bothers me a little how much of my own timeline is built from work dates. We spent a while naming things he'd learned since that photograph. He thinks a year is a lot. Depending on the question, I agree.

Ran the short neighborhood route without checking my pace until I got back. First few minutes felt stiff through the front of my hips, then my stride stopped feeling like something I had to arrange. It was humid enough that the shirt was soaked before I reached our street. My son wanted to race from the mailbox, so I did one more very short run with an opponent who had started before announcing the rules. Inside, the air conditioning felt cold on my arms and I could still feel my pulse while taking my shoes off. Nothing to log beyond the distance. I was tired in a straightforward way, which was welcome.