Reminders
This morning I went for a run around Dove Canyon. My plantar fasciitis hurts like heck, but I figure since I’m getting surgery October 7 to fix it, I might as well do whatever I want. Can’t screw it up any worse than it already is. Oh, I also decided to kill two birds with one stone (that’s a pretty somber idiom when you really think about it). I’m getting the bunion on my left foot fixed at the same time as the plantar fasciitis.
I took a detour by the reservoir because, you know….water. The sun shimmered on its surface and made me smile.
As I started my ascent up the next hill, my route converged with another runner — a young man who looked to be in his early 20s, shirtless, with a tattoo and dark hair. I thought of all the days Chandler would stand in the kitchen chatting with us before heading out for a run around Dove or into Coto de Caza — of course shirtless, allowing the world to see the fine artwork covering his entire right side. This must have been what it would look like to run up behind him.
My run took me around by the driving range. As I neared the line of golfers practicing their swings, I saw a young man with a white shirt and brown hair. I thought of all the days Chandler would leave the house wearing his white golf shirt, headed down to the range to hit some balls. His famous line when things weren’t going so well on the course was, “You should’ve seen me on the range.”
Tonight we watched a movie called Meru about mountain climbing. In this movie, a guy sustains a serious head injury and a couple of spinal injuries. It was hard to watch — the stretcher taking him to surgery, the cervical collar, the gnarly stitches. I had to detach from my experience and just watch it as a documentary about someone completely separate from me and with whom I have no emotional attachment.
Sometimes there are several reminders in a day. Sometimes I get to the end of the day and realize there were none. Not that it’s not always top of mind. There are just no triggers or specific memories or reminders some days. There aren’t many of those days at this point.
About to binge watch Stranger Things with Charli. It’s been a good day. Reminders and all.
Tonight’s Chandler-ness:
7-29-96 At swimming lessons you told your teacher you were “drowning” when she let you do a little scrambling before grabbing you out of the water. On the way home I said, “Do you want to go to the pool now?” You said, “Yeah, after I drown to you.”
