Yesterday was greeted with much anticipation. The wife's sister was going under the knife to have a cornea transplant in Seattle, the wife had a meeting of significant importance scheduled for noon (and no, it was not about pregnancy), a friend of ours was having her first ultrasound of her first pregnancy, a couple of friends of ours are in the middle of career upheaval and yet another friend of ours is going through one of the great rights of passage that up-ends your world but through which we all must pass one day.
I received an e-mail at work that our county manager was stepping down and five minutes later, the new chief was making the rounds introducing himself. Being in the real estate industry, the market has been *ahem* "contracting" which puts a lot of pressure on the powers that be to make some pretty difficult decisions. It is roundly believed that the new chief was brought in to make some of those difficult decisions. He seemed like a nice enough guy to me - moved from Santa Barbara because he needed more city-life. Of course, he probably seemed nice to me because (so far as I know) my position is relatively secure. I am sure others shook his hand yesterday and stared into the icy black maw of an impending job hunt. Careers hang in the balance.
With the market contracting as it has, every client that used to send you 10-15 deals a month is now sending you 3-5 deals a month. Which means everyone needs to scramble for more clients, but quick. Imagine fishing against a clock; its not good enough that you readied the pole, baited the hook and staked out the best fishing hole. You have to get a fish in the boat NOW and then another and then another . . . . Well yesterday I landed a fish - a fish that ought to be good for 10-15 deals a month.
What a!
The wife did all the grocery shopping after her meeting - which doesn't sound significant except that the larder was e.m.p.t.y. and when the fridge is empty, making a list and buying everything on it feels significant.
I came home and the reports began to trickle in, the wife's noon meeting went well, her meeting with a friend afterwards went well also. The wife's sister came out of surgery, took her patch off and could see well enough to dial the phone and tell us all about it. The larder was restocked and the wife set about making dinner.
*Sigh*
I repaired to the deck, libation-in-hand to quietly breathe in the cooling evening and watch the sunset. Feist was on the stereo - one of our bands de'jour - and the smell of dinner was in the air. The sky was bright orange in the distance - pink and grey clouds against a darkening blue background hung overhead. A hummingbird was flitting amongst the trumpet vine on the back fence while another one chirped away in the distance. Some insect in the neighbor's yard was doing its best imitation of a cricket.
*breathe*
I thought to myself, this is good. I should try and capture this - maybe take a photo. But as soon as you switch from experiencing a thing to trying to capture a thing, you lose the thing. No, best to let this one go by unmolested. I took it in for as long as I could without becoming selfish and headed to the kitchen to keep the wife company.
"Hey, look at that." the wife said, and pointed out the window at the remaining embers of the sunset.
"Yeah, I know"
What a.
UPDATE: Funny, it seems that Lileks had a similar evening:
"Complain we might about humidity in the summer, a touch of it on a September night is like the breath of heaven. I’m in the gazebo, swatting mosquitoes; crickets and a lone contented frog in the margins of the yard. A storm is due, but they’ve said that all day. We were supposed to get Severe Weather in the afternoon, complete with hail the size of . . . big hail, I don’t know. I’m tired of hail similes. All I know is this: it’s midnight, I’m wearing shorts, it’s September, and there’s great drama in the trees up above. I live for this."
Only, he's in Minnesota and talented and I'm in San Diego and, well, you know . . .
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