I Must Remember This Beautiful Day

A lot for a day where I don't have to go anywhere.  But I had a lot of errands to do.  Went to the post office, then the bank to deposit a check for my folks, then went down to cash in on a 37-cent Whopper, visit Grandmother's best friend, then went to a bus stop to ride a full, 90-minute circuit around the Orange Line, the brand-new Bus Rapid Transit service that is giving out free rides starting with its grand opening today through Monday.  I have to go to my alma mater's Game-watching party tonight, too, so I have a couple hours to rest instead of what I should be doing, which is going through my stuff.  But anyway. ...

While all these chores were swimming in my head, particularly as I was driving down to see Grandmother's best friend, I looked up.  It was a gray day today.  I mean, totally overcast.  The sun not only did not make an appearance, never for even one second today did it look like it would get less cloudy.  After I got off the BRT and took a lap around a block close to the bus station, I looked up the temperature: Just above freezing.  I was not cold.  I might have been a tad chilly, but being in a bus and walking a bit keeps you warm.

So, a mostly cloudy day with highs in the mid-thirties?  Perfect weather.  Just beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.  OK, maybe it could've been 20 degrees warmer.  But it's my kind of weather.  Heck, I would have called it a perfect fall day if we it weren't the holiday season.  But with all my running around, I don't think I noticed this perfect sky enough.  Only when I was doing this post-bus lap did I look up at the beautiful cloudy sky and take a deep breath and realize how blissful it was to be outside, and therefore how fortunate I am to enjoy it.  I just wish I had enjoyed it more, rather than being inside my own head, reminding myself I am both tired and worried.  I should have ... looked up more.  I should look up more.

So I got back, ate Taco Bell, and am now blog posting this as dusk settled.  By 4 o'clock around these parts around this time of the year it's difficult on a gray day to see it darken because of the clouds or because of the night.  But while I wish I had stayed outside and appreciate my kind of weather more, I'm glad I appreciated it for those 15 minutes walking around after getting off the BRT.  It might not be that cloudy, "warm" and safe to walk outside again till spring.