I am on the strugglebus as I navigate traveltober and attempt to get my life together. Last week was a long work trip followed by a wedding. This weekend I’m headed back to The Big House to watch my second live Michigan football game. And the weekend after that I’ll be headed back to Michigan for another wedding. Thankfully I get one weekend off at the end of this month before I head back to Illinois for some godfatherly duties. All great things but by the end I will be a tired American.
The early morning darkness is screwing with me as well because I am having trouble with my morning walks in the dark. Some of my routes are well lit while others are NOT. This morning I decided to try a loop through the park that I walked a hundred times previously this year. I rounded a corner into pitch blackness and had trouble maintaining the path. After my third trip into the wet grass I decided to turn on my phone flashlight until I found other illumination.
As soon as I turned it on the two street people whose living room I stumbled upon appeared directly in front of me. I screamed and then turned it into a swear shout out of pure embarrassment while one of them brandished a stolen street sign and the other went into an olde timey boxing stance. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about… allow me to conduct a brief internet search…
I immediately assessed that I was going to be taught a lesson by the Marquess of Queensbury himself whilst taking random slashes from a double handed metal sign chop. After accidentally dropping my phone I put up my hands in surrender while apologizing for the intrusion. They hadn’t said a word so I bent down to get my phone which conveniently landed screen down beacon up allowing me to both find it and temporarily blind myself.
I decided the best exit was back the way I came and my heart didn’t slow down until I made it to a civilized (lit) part of the park. As I rounded the corner back onto a familiar walking path one of the maintenance dudes who was getting ready to fire up his leaf blower asked me if I had screamed. Fuck that’s embarrassing… “nope, I think it came from somewhere back there”
needless to say I will not be taking that route for a while and walks will be moved to the afternoon until further notice or the weather turns into the surface of the moon. And now I need to pack while cleaning my place because I am nothing if not particular about coming home to a clean house. I will try to get better about writing this nonsense because I’m letting stories slip through my fingers but no promises.