President's Day with Johnnie

Today is supposed to be a holiday. President's Day actually... unless your organization decides to not have the day off and choose another day instead like QueensCare did. I woke up in holiday day off mode and had no intentions of pushing hard today at all.  Last year it was actually like a work Monday and I didn't do anything other than catch up. I suspect today will be like that as well. When I focused on the week coming up I also reflected on last week and realized that I had just made it through a pretty challenging week. I was having issues physically (eye and stomach), of course Johnnie was having his stomach issues and also Lisa was having stomach issues and the stress of having to make up work in the later part of the week. And it was also Tech Council meeting week. But I made it through ok and this week I do NOT expect anything remotely as stressful.  And so this being a Monday, I'm out and about at 8 AM doing my morning walk. The goal as always on  a Monday morning is to get to 5000 steps by 10 AM.  I was also looking forward to a nice long hot shower since I hadn't showered since Friday really. I know I must be a bit gamey by now. Of course who would call me at 8:45 but Johnnie asking me to come over for breakfast. It wasn't totally unexpected. At least HE has the day off and I was pretty sure I was going to need to watch him for a bit. How long that "bit" was Lisa would tell me. But now he's asking me to come over already and Lisa had to call back to clarify that she was actually good until 9:45. Needless to say, NOW I am feeling a bit of urgency to get going. And although Johnnie asked me to have breakfast with them, I knew full well I better have something on my own right here in my apartment. And so all of a sudden I had to compress my shower, my breakfast, and getting dressed to get to Lisa's house by 9:30. oh well, so much for a leisurely Monday morning. At least I DID get my 5000 steps in by then.  Isn't it funny, Lisa only yells and screams and does her crazy woman thing when I'm around. I only get stressed whenever I have to integrate into Lisa's plans no matter what those plans are. Shocking.  In the meantime, I was only all too happy to get Johnnie and Claire until 3 PM today. That means we have an extra 4 hours together today and so I don't have to feel like I'm totally in work mode. I mean you can't help but be in a hybrid mode when Johnnie is around you. Look at him in the pic I posted already goofing off with my shoes, a bag of goldfish snacks and whatever art he was already working on. That's Johnnie. And so that also affected lunch. I got him chicken strips from Jack-in-the-box, which meant I got to have Jack-in-th-box for lunch for me as well. And that was fine.  I still felt like taking a nap all morning, but I was also pretty sure that was simply me having the LAZIES still, rather than dealing with some bug. As it was I did get to "work" a little. Responded to all posts and chats, even did a meeting where I committed to doing cybersecurity training in May. Felt just like a usual work Monday actually. I expected Lisa to get Johnnie by 3 PM, which she mentioned this morning. This was when she was waxing dramatic about trying to be a good mom, trying to spend time with Johnnie bleh bleh bleh. How could I do the YODA thing on her? Stop trying I wanted to say. Just do it. You want to spend time with him, it is simply a matter of deciding. For me, I know I left him alone for a good chunk of time today. But I still managed to pay attention to him and even watched Cat-In-The-Hat with him for a little bit. It's not about what you do with Johnnie, it's that you do stuff with him whatever it may be. That is all Johnnie wants. And so I was a little disappointed for Lisa when 3 PM came and no phone call, 4 PM came and no phone call. When it was close to 5 PM I reached out and asked if we could bring her dinner. What was important to Lisa at this point was that Johnnie come to her soccer game tonight. I was ok with that even though it isn't something I look forward to participating in anymore. For me, it's simply a part of past history. And if Lisa wants Johnnie there, I'm there simply to take him home with me. And so it was that I got sushi from Whole Foods for Lisa, teriyaki salmon for me, and Panda Express for Johnnie. And then we ate dinner together. And then I brought Claire to my house, met mom and son at the game and watched the first half. Some of the players from before still say hi to me. There was Paul, there was Jen. But after the half, it was Lisa that actually told Johnnie it was ok to go home with dad. Perhaps she realized that I wasn't engaging with the players.  Of course I wasn't. I was just there to watch not to socialize. And so we went on home and went on with our Monday night. I ended up having the entire day with Johnnie really. And I was glad for that.