A Little Before

We haven't been to this restaurant for many years. The food is still good, but the view from the enclosed rooftop, which was the draw back when we visited before, has changed substantially.

Before there was nothing out there but the water, the cacophony of the Financial District of Manhattan, and New Jersey, but now, shipping containers and giant cranes to lift them off of ships fill the horizon.

When we ask our server if she knows when all this came in, she says, "Well, I've only been here about five months, so... before that?"
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One year ago: Strangers in the Crowd
Two years ago: Plans and a Carpet Spoiled
Three years ago: The Road Is Actually "Polhemus" But the Rest Is Probably True
Four years ago: The Government Sure Do Take a Bite, Don't She?
Ten years ago: Unresolved

PTSDoughnuts

"Yeah, man, I used to work at a doughnut shop, too," I tell the guy behind the counter in the dimly-lit diner with the display case of pastries and doughnuts.

"So you know what I'm talking about," he says as he goes to get us our order (a marble twist for me, a chocolate covered eclair for Katie). "I used to come home every night smelling of the things, and people would be like, 'Oh, you gonna bring us doughnuts?'"

"My friends would say that thing, you remember the old commercials: 'Time to make the doughnuts?" I tell him, and he looks down and shakes his head grimly.
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One year ago: The Importance of Being Earnest
Two years ago: Smiling and Waving
Three years ago: Better Unsaid
Four years ago: No Romping For You, Buddy
Ten years ago: Old Testament R&B

Meowmento Mori

The cat is curled up on the chair in the living room, a picture of peace with her floof of a tail tucked perfectly around her.

"I'm going to have you stuffed exactly in that pose," Katie says to her. "No," she says, "I just want your skull."

After some discussion, we decide that having the skulls of our deceased pets on display would be a comforting thing, and not creepy at all.
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One year ago: Lockout
Two years ago: You Just Made It Mad!
Three years ago: Class Concerns
Ten years ago: Gloves

Syncretism

"I follow several gods on Facebook," I explain to Katie.

"I'll follow more gods, and you should follow more animals," Katie replies, scrolling through her phone as we lie together before bed.

"Yeah, I should follow more gods, too," I say musingly a bit later.

"I think you're saying 'dogs' wrong again," Katie says.
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One year ago: Rude
Two years ago: In the Night Kitchen
Three years ago: Bird Poem
Four years ago: Remembering My Future
Ten years ago: Yesterday, The Day Job

Thinking of Others

My mother is home from the hospital, having, as she says, "convinced" them that she was well enough to leave, and I'm on the phone with her, checking in.

"But keep your thoughts on Anchorage, Alaska," she says in her rough voice. "The earthquake and the tsunami there."

I admit that I haven't read up enough on it, and she says, "Well you should do some research on it for your Four Each Day."
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One year ago: "I'm Here To Rescue You"
Two years ago: Pocket Picked
Three years ago: Bird Poem
Four years ago: A Crowded Subway Is No Excuse
Ten years ago: L'esprit de l'escalier and The Power of Music

Don't Engage (Even If They Have It Coming)

The guy pushes his way up to the counter next to Katie with a "Yeah, just move over there, why don't you try that," to the bewildered fellow who was standing there minding his own business a moment ago. Katie does a slow turn to take our new neighbor in, and while his scruffy beard, sandy feet, general unkemptness, and spiky, weird energy mark him as to-be-watched, his youth, necklaces, and painted fingernails give him up as one of the dissolute party-boys of the beach and boardwalk rather than some possibly more dangerous species of homeless person that drifts the streets of Miami Beach.

As he tries to bully the counterperson into giving him a sandwich for less than listed price, I interrupt Katie's build up to confront the guy with a "Hey, you know how you tell me not to correct strangers on factual errors even if they really need it? Don't engage."
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One year ago: Scold
Two years ago: The Kindness of Strangers
Three years ago: Different Streams
Four years ago: Okay, But It's More Fun Down Here
Ten years ago: Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off, Start All Over Again

Acrobats

The gulls hover low over the sand, making visible the shape of the wind blowing in off the waves. Katie sleeps next to me on a towel, facing away from me down the beach south while the sun warms my skin. Just up the beach from us, a couple does acrobatic yoga, thereby demonstrating the complementary nature of the universe by balancing out our utter laziness with absolutely baffling and unnecessary physical activity.

I watch for a while, admiring their fitness and grace, as the woman of the couple slowly, carefully shifts on her partner's hands and feet, moving from a handstand, to plank, to standing on his palms as he holds her up in the air, until I grow bored and close my eyes.
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One year ago: For A Change
Two years ago: That Time Of Year
Three years ago: No Standing Under $100,000
Four years ago: Good Problems to Have