that mask
i was prompted to search for in the basement and found (over in the
truthiness thread, yesterday) will be en route to an acquaintance-chained emergency room
doctor in kissimmee, florida,
via usps tomorrow, if all goes well at the post office. serendipitously,
i also happened to have a large-enough bubble-mailer and $4 in odd old
stamps available.
check-in-wise, just to update a tale left mid-stride last episode,
whereas yesterday little oomph went from freaking out and losing balance
when they noticed i wasn't holding them anymore to excitingly riding
alone for up to thirty seconds, today little oomph worked up to being
able to ride indefinitely, in big wobbly loops, and even to steer a bit.
the starting and stopping still leaves a bit to be desired; there were
some falls, some bouts of tears, a multiparty collision with some
soccer-playing boys (who, after, were very, adorably, concerned that
little oomph was ok), their ball, little oomph and myself, running
alongside. there were some moments of terror and some crying, but little
oomph was game. the child's mother was there for much of the time, took
some videos, did some running, voiced some praise before heading to the
grocery store. eventually i commented that at this rate i'd have to
switch over to a zone-defense. what's that? i'll have to tell you next
time we rest, i panted. so i got to be jock dad explaining a sports
metaphor -- not my usual lane! not sure i did a great job, little oomph not knowing very much about the gameplay of the several sports i
referred to, or what offense and defense are, as far as i can tell. i
guess little oomph humored me, pretending (?) to follow my breathless
dadsplaining. and, after some time, i did get to stand mostly still,
toward the center of the big wobbly loops, only occasionally sprinting
to intervene when it looked like little oomph might ride straight into a
fence or wall or another child, and mostly not having to. even grew calm
enough to hoist the phone and shoot some video, myself.
i'm quite proud of little oomph & very happy with the rapid
accomplishment. and exhausted and quite debilitated with allergies from
running so long and breathing so hard in the chill breeze on this
perfect, pollen-filled spring day. also: i didn't have a heart attack
and am probably far enough past flu (and subsequent cold and acute
allergies) to be increasingly confident it has probably not been sars-2
coronavirus.
take care of yourselves; care for others;
keep eviscerating the bullshit while bringing the humor, hope, humanity
and sense.