I started the day with back pain I didn’t have time to deal with, so I stayed in bed for a few hours. That felt pretty good, but when I’m at home, something happens and next thing I know, I’ve been whirling like a dervish for an hour and a half. This morning’s something was the gear-stripping arrival of the lumber delivery truck, which I saw and heard through an open bedroom window. It was stupid and impulsive of me, but I leapt out of bed, scattering two indignant little black cats, and ran to the bathroom to splash water on my face before running outside to cheer on the lumber guy. I leaned on the porch rail and applauded as a smiling man pulled three 2 x 10s from the truck and lay them on the sidewalk running the length of the gravel driveway.

After an ice storm last winter, I sailed off the top of the back stairs and went bump bump bump to the concrete and later the treads developed portentious soft spots. Thus, I was goddamned overjoyed to see a different future in the old Magic 8 Ball. Stairs! Traction! Going about my business uninjured! Then I had to lie down.