Nine Eleven

I let the dog out at 6:30 and he did his thing in record time. This dog does not enjoy getting wet. It is kind of funny compared to all the other dogs I've owned. We went back to bed and after a while, it rained so hard out that it woke me up again. We had planned on getting up and out early and going to the Georgetown Flea Market. But we figured heck, vendors either are sturdy or crazy, and we're neither. So we decided to take a pass on this and try next week. 

It feels like it is going to rain again, any minute now, but the radar map indicates no. We'll see. I'm hoping to get a walk in maybe, maybe even outside and not just my usual in the house shenanigans. 

Anyway. I've been sitting on my butt watching football all afternoon. I cleaned the top of the stove during halftime. I realized it is 9/11 and I have avoided social media because so many of my friends from high school post a lot about 9/11. 

We lost 4 classmates that day, none of which I was actually friends with. That's how big my high school was. I only really knew one of them, he was in my homeroom. We were not close, I have no outstanding memories of him, pro or con. But every year my social media is flooded with their photos, and I have nothing that connects me to any of them other than we grew up in the same town, went to the same school. 

I have another very dear high school friend, Eddie, who managed to get out of the area before the towers fell. They were told to shelter in place in their building, and he and his coworkers said "um. No. Fuck that." And they picked their things up and left. A little while later, the buildings went down, and his building took a direct hit. 

Had he sat there, he would probably be dead. 

He and and thousands of others walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Long Island. His husband was on a business trip somewhere like Chicago, knew he was not going to be able to fly home to NJ, but rented a car and started driving home immediately. They weren't able to connect for hours. Brad had no idea if Eddie was alright; Eddie had no idea where Brad was. Harrowing. I remember talking to Eddie a few weeks after all this happened, and the story stays in my mind. 

Brad died a few years ago now. Eddie is raising their two kids and doing well with them, they're beautiful. And he recently entered in a new relationship. They are very cute together.

Another classmate, Mike, pictured here, was and still is a firefighter in NYC. Every year it is the first thing that comes to my mind. The look he's giving the photographer, who he thought was the media or some sort of ghoul, but later he found out he was a crime scene photographer for the police department. But the look. The look on his face, in his eyes. I'll never forget it. He's such a treasure. Such a great guy. The fact that he survived this, hasn't succumbed to any of the diseases that so many first responders got after working the scene's aftermath, he and Eddie are the people I think of. 

I don't wallow in the where was I when I heard stuff. Swimming in those memories isn't where I want to be. I can't change anything, thinking about it doesn't change anything. I started my blog a few months before this all happened, and I've got all these years, 21 of them, to look back on. 

Tonight I raise a glass to Mike and his family, his boys (both Eagles, just like dad and their uncle Dennis); and Eddie, his beautiful kids, his mom and dad who I love and adore all these years later, and Ben the new beau. 

May we not worry about counting our years going forward, and treasure each moment we are having together in this world. 

Doug just told me that he needs to leave the house here at 7am tomorrow for a mandatory in person meeting at 8am, so the laundry is started and the alarms are set. 

Digits down below.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+22. All outside and it was more humid than I thought it would be. Ugh.

blood glucose:
9am: 191
5pm: 156
10pm: 180

Food
coffee, water
12 noon: leftover salad, leftover salmon piece, zesty italian dressing, metformin
2pm: peach
7pm: chicken cordon bleu (chicken breast, 2 pieces of swiss, 2 slices of ham), breadcrumb coating. steamed broccoli. Metformin+jardiance