I was all excited to go to the gym this afternoon for a Pilates class that I just found out started at a convenient time, came into the office a little early, even, in case I needed to leave early to make it on time. Get here and check the schedule and that class does not exist any more.

That’s a bummer, t! Can you call and ask if it will be on the schedule in the future or do you think you just misread it somehow?

So is everyone busy Mondaying?

It's the first Monday of summer vacation for Matilda so there's far less bustle than usual. Her beau is flying out today for a month and she's trying to get together with him for breakfast before he goes.

Her close friend Iris is scheduled to leave tomorrow on an international trip but there's been a hold-up on her passport so I'm kinda hoping she hangs around, else Matilda will be at loose ends.

I have finished five of my six writing pieces that were due and the editor seems pleased with them. So that's good. I still have three thousand and twelve onerous tasks to face before we head back down to LA on Thursday.

JZ is counting down her working Mondays since she's retiring at the end of this month.

I just finished up therapy. TCG is on his second week in his new job, and I’m trying to guess at what time he takes lunch now, but I might fall asleep on the couch before he gets home.

So is everyone busy Mondaying?

I woke up with a migraine, so I took meds and retreated back to bed, and I'm just now settling down to work.

Tim has an official surgery date/dates: since it's a 2-part surgery, part 1 is on July 31 and part 2 is on August 3 (he'll be in the hospital the whole time between the surgeries). The surgeon will still try to get it moved earlier if at all possible, but that may not happen because it involves coordinating the schedules of 3 surgeons.

So now we need to start cleaning/planning/buying anything that will make his recovery easier that we don't already have after his heart surgery (shower chair, grabby stick, etc). And there's a seminar this Wednesday evening for patients and their caregivers about the recovery process, which we're definitely going to. I can't pretend I know what his surgery/recovery will be like, because (1) I can't compare it to my back surgery, which was a walk in the park compared to his surgery, and (2) even if I could compare them, mine was 20 years ago and I don't remember a whole lot, other than how important it is to get up and get walking ASAP after surgery, and to go to physical therapy after the initial recovery. It's such a great idea that the surgical center does these seminars.

Tim's going to start taking Wednesdays off, starting this week, until his surgery, because it is just too fucking hard on him to work 5 days in a row (days that are generally 10-12 hours). He has the strongest work ethic of anyone I know, so the fact that he's choosing to take 1 day off a week means he's really struggling. This surgery can't happen soon enough.

I think the schedule just changed when we went from May to June, meara. No Pilates at all at this location. There's a yoga class at 5 I might try, or I might go to the movies instead. The yoga class I want to take is at 9:30 am, which I can't justify leaving work for, alas...

The surgery recovery seminar sounds like a great plan. It is different for everyone, but in some ways the rules are the same. I'm not sure which is worse, doing too much because you feel invincible, or slacking on the PT because you don't wanna.

That is great that the surgical center does pre-surgery seminars! I hope Tim can let himself take it easy meanwhile.

I hope Tim can let himself take it easy meanwhile.

His body is forcing him to. Poor noodle.

The good news at Stately Beckmeyer Manor is that, for the past 2 weeks, my energy levels have been *markedly* improved, consistently, for the first time in like 14 months, so it seems like the long Covid has fucked off (or is at least headed out the door). I'm definitely knocking on wood, because I don't want to jinx myself. I keep asking Tim "Did...did I feel like this before? Was this how I felt all the time? Holy shit!!!" I just have so much energy and it feels like the Technicolor has been turned way up on everything. It's fucking amazing.

So I'm in a really good position to take care of Tim after his surgery, which is going to be so much better than taking care of him when I felt like exhausted crap after his surprise lung surgery in October. (He's really sick of surgeries, obviously. Hoping this one is the last one for a long, long time. Or ever! Ever would be good, too!)

My next step is to improve my cardio capacity, because WOW, you cannot jump from basically nothing to 30 minutes on the bike unless you have a crash cart waiting to resuscitate your completely out-of-shape self. (I *didn't* bike for 30 minutes, because I decided to stop. I'm stubborn but not totally insane.)

Oh, that is excellent news, Tep!