Peaks & Valleys

My day, for all intents and purposes, started around 3:00 a.m., after I'd stayed up later than I should have anyway.

Mo was up around three, blaring 'When You Wish Upon a Star' on YouTube. Why, oh why, can't my 13 year old at least crank Black Sabbath the way I would have at this age?

It wouldn't make a difference, really, and Mo does love her some Green Day, Ozzy and Evanescence, so it would have been a long night anyway. Fortunately, Em slept soundly through Mo's escapades and me running her back to bed over and over. Good thing, because if Mo can wreck a good night's sleep, her sister can compound it by complaining that if I was just a better Dad...

I can make Mo stay in bed, sort of. But I can't force her to sleep, trust me I've tried. So she'd lay in there and I'd hear her shout, 'Letter L!' and giggle. 'Go to sleep!' followed by another giggle. 'Be quiet!' more giggling.

She says these things loudly, but not with the intonation of someone actually saying them. She says 'Letter L' like it's the punchline of a really juicy joke, and the other things come out sing-songy like she knows what the likely reaction to her open eyes and wired behavior will be, but she can't help it.

Then, when it was finally time to be up, I got her in the hall shower and went to take a shower of my own, and I heard a thunk, but I was too busy trying to get cleaned up quick to process it, at which point Em told me, 'Mo is having a seizure in the shower!'

And what a seizure it was. She was laying in the tub, the water still spraying, part of her body still soaped up and lathery, twitching and gagging and not breathing as far as I could tell.

Every time I thought it was about over, it wasn't, and I called for Em to bring my keychain (I have a fob of Ativan for such occasions), and was about to give it to her when she came around for real.

Plan A was I'd take Em to school and bring Mo back home to sleep it off, but she surprised me by getting dressed. In a determined way, she wanted underwear, she wanted a bra, etc. She wanted to go to school.

As soon as she was dressed, she flopped over and slept until me and her sister were ready to go, but then when I dropped Em at the high school and gave Mo the choice of school or go home and nap, she chose school.

So this was a suck-ass morning, but apparently Mo wanted to fix it by pretending it hadn't been.

As I was driving to work, I realized I hadn't brought my intended lunch, and I had about two dollars in coins on me and in my car. I planned to ride the Moose tonight, but between the sleep deprivation and trying to figure out lunch even with dollar-menu items for two bucks, I wasn't so sure.

I got to work and found my boss was buying lunch at Lew's for everyone. Wow, didn't see that coming, but I've got a pretty awesome boss. Three or four of them, really, but most of the time it's not really Office Spacey.

Lew's is a bar and grill, but I have to give them credit, they are a cut above when it comes to bar and grill food. The chicks all ordered the Buffalo Chicken Salad and the Y Chromosome team all ordered the Pork Tenderlew (with chips, except for one rebel who had to complicate the order with fries).

Brunch is breakfast combined with lunch, but this was more of a Linner. Everyone (the guys I mean) seemed to eat about half their Pork Tenderlew and save the rest for later. I didn't have breakfast, just some fruit and nuts when I got to work, and I was famished. I ate everything that wasn't nailed down and if I could pry it loose, it wasn't really nailed down.

I was still full from Linner when I left work to do the Moose with Roj. I didn't feel like riding, really, but I'm in a routine and I didn't want to be a pussy about losing sleep.

I had forgotten my fingerless Pearl Izumi gloves (laundry), had to decide between going bare fisted or wearing my full-finger winter riding gloves. The winter gloves are not Pearl Izumi, some cheap knockoff with nowhere near as good a padding, but maybe better than nothing.

We normally leave ahead of the group because we're slow. But getting there late (after another valley I won't go into), I was, 'Do we leave just five minutes early, or do we see how long we can stick with the herd before they drop us?'

We left with the herd, and right there at Tomahawk and Mission, I dropped my fucking chain. I hate that like some people hate obscenity. The full finger gloves kept my fingers grease-free as I yanked the chain out of the frame, but damn.

I got cleared and raced to close the gap. Rode like hell for a couple miles before finding Roj and a few casuals, people who were taking the 'leisurely' approach.

I rode those first few miles like hell, and while I didn't think I could keep that pace up the whole way, I did my best. Got my cardio in, big time.

And in a peak to end the day, I finished with a 13.6 mph average, the whole 19+ mile route, by far a personal best for a ride this long and this hilly. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a pygmy, but I was a tall pygmy tonight.



The gravy was Beethoven. I'm not a fanatic for classical music, but I love any good music. And as luck would have it, right when I got in the car to go home, KCUR was announcing the KC Symphony playing Beethoven's Fifth. And it was a solid performance perfected by the fact that it lasted exactly until I was in my driveway. You can't force timing like that.

So there you go, a day that starts with sleep deprivation and washing the suds off your postictal daughter can still end in victory and great music if you play your cards right and get a little bit lucky.