As if the events described in my last posts were not enough, I not only was required to show for jury duty again, but I was again selected to sit on another jury. This too was a criminal trial - but a misdemeanor instead of a felony charge this time, which is to say that no one was wielding an ax and no blood was spilled.
Following jury duty, it would have been tempting to believe that everyone in Virginia owned a gun. But the one attorney asked the jury if we owned a gun and only one of the 7 (misdemeanor trials have 7 jurors instead of 12) of us did own a gun.
A few days later, I was at the recycling station near our home unloading cardboard into the huge dumpsters in the lot, and jumped a foot when a man appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and asked if I had any money. I jumped a foot and he apologized profusely, saying he didn’t mean to startle me. If I ever have cash, it’s because Andrea gave it to me for some reason. He was definitely asking the wrong person. I choose to believe that most people asking for money in Richmond are harmless, but when I got back into my car and pulled out of the lot, I googled whether or not you needed some sort of permit for pepper spray in Virginia. You don’t, so I ordered some. I prefer to reside in a bubble of naïveté but 2 criminal trials has burst a bubble that years of watching true crime shows didn’t burst.
My book is chugging to the finish line. I need to put in some more work to help it cross the finish line, submitting advance praise for the back cover, which is being designed. The book is being formatted, as I submitted the manuscript on 8.5 x 11 paper. I need to ask when it’s actually being released so I can plan my road trips to promote it.
To be honest, I’m enjoying not having the book take up so much headspace so much of the time. It’s a lot like reaching the end of a long, dark, winding corridor that begins to open to the light and let other things in.
The other things I’m letting in look a lot like self care. I’ve begun this 9-week workout program at a gym 5-minutes from my home. It’s comprehensive in the sense it addresses nutrition too - which is great since I’ve been eating like a trash panda. Andrea is going to help me get my moped road ready so I can shoot over to the gym on it.
We spent last weekend bringing order to the first floor of our home - which, to be honest, had been neglected since August. I mean - it has been cleaned but piles had accumulated. We had gone on vacation, picked Tyson up, closed on the cottage, then focused on remodeling it. Andrea and I were both off of work today, so we are spending the weekend at the cottage. Today was rainy - I don’t mind. Rain is permission from the universe to slow down. We slept late, took a drive to explore, read, and watched The Boston Strangler movie. Perfect.
This coming week, we tackle the upstairs - which means getting a handle on our clean clothing.
Andrea and I have decided to have a “we’re not dead yet - Estate Sale”. We got rid of a lot moving from Hudson, to Forest, to Richmond. It’s hard to believe there is more to get rid of but we do. I think we will have to tackle things one room, one closet at a time.
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