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A Day in the Life
I am back from taking Jintana's niece, Awee, to school and meeting Jintana for breakfast. We live in Chiangmai, Thailand, and traffic was awful this morning. Worse than usual. I wonder how much longer I'll be capable of driving.
In my defense, I ask people if my driving sucks, because I don't want to be one of those dangerous old guys who doesn't know he's drifting from lane to lane and just missing families on motorbikes. I have no pride when it comes to driving, but I do love the freedom it gives me.
This morning Jintana's phone alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and for once I was not awake beforehand. I can't remember the last time I had a full night's sleep, but my naps are awesome. Sometimes I get wild entertainment dreams. Yesterday's was this: I was on a terrible cruise ship with a show to do and someone had stolen my guitar and the cruise director had stolen my act and, oh yes, we were sinking. I retired 15 years ago. Shouldn't those dreams have gone away by now? My other reoccurring nightmare is going out in front of a huge crowd and the microphone turns into a hot dog and the guitar strings into spaghetti. Thousands of people are screaming, "We can't hear you!" and I'm yelling, "The microphone is a hot dog!"
I once mentioned these dreams to a dancer and she said she had dreams of going on stage and forgetting the routines. She'd be trying to follow the other dancers and screwing everything up. In another one, she would be about to go on stage and realize she'd forgotten her costume. The stage hands would push her out and she'd be dancing naked in Radio City Music Hall. I realized that visual would stay with me a long time.
Today I wake up and lie there for awhile. It's cold for Thailand, about 13 degrees Celsius, and my wife is bundled up, including socks and an extra blanket. It brings back memories of a long ago relationship when my loved one gradually began wearing more and more shapeless clothes to bed. Being highly intuitive, I realized she wasn't yearning for my body. Jintana is just cold and we're still good together.
I lie there musing on all the people sleeping with no one to hold or with someone who doesn't want to be held. I'm not sure which is worse.
Jintana gets up and goes to the bathroom to plug in the hot water pot. I'm trying cut down on coffee, so I go out to the refrigerator in the upstairs hall and get some coffee-chocolate beans to nibble on while I drink hot water and watch YouTube. Kobe Bryant and his daughter have died in a helicopter crash. To me, she is the sadder part of the story. He had a good life; she was just starting. My feelings about him are mixed. He was a sensational basketball player, but I never thought of him as a good teammate. How would I know? I don't. I have no clue.