Who wants to walk in 20-degree weather? I do, apparently, or at least I didn’t let the cold stop me from walking yesterday or today. Parts of the driveway still have a coating of ice and snow, so I have had to be very careful. I wouldn’t want to fall.
The thought of falling while walking always brings to mind my coworker, Susan, who fell and broke her hip when she was just a few years older than I am now. It wasn’t what killed her (she died years later), but I believe it was the beginning of the end for her. It made her prematurely old, frailer than she ought to have been for her age.
I do not need an extra problem like that in my life. Things are already too grim. I’ve been getting by pretty well to all outward appearances, but only because I’ve been carefully limiting my exposure to unhappy things, picking my way across the ice in the metaphorical sense, too. Now is a time to be cautious of everything.
P.S. I ordered an axolotl sticker for Marshall last week, and it arrived today in the mail. He decided to name the axolotl, and of all the names in the world, he chose Susan. What are the odds?