It’s almost October, so of course the temperatures today were in the 80s and the humidity in the 90s. I slept in and got a slightly later train, something I haven’t done since before summer hours began in July, so I missed all of the actual rain. But oh, the humidity.
The reason I slept in was because I was meeting my parents tonight for dinner, downtown in Greenwich Village, where my mother had a meeting for work. And even with what turned out to be about an hour’s walk — I could have taken the subway, but then how would I have experienced all that humidity? — I was going to get there well in advance of our 6:45 p.m. reservation. So working 8:30 to 4:30 seemed a little silly. Why not sleep in an hour and work until 5?
The restaurant we ate at was quite nice, albeit a little expensive. I was pleased to discover I actually do sort of like duck, which I don’t think I’ve had in years. (Despite being pretty easy to come by on Long Island.)
It was a tasty meal, and we luckily didn’t have to wait around too long for either a subway to Penn Station or a train home.
Meanwhile, my back and related symptoms are no better, and I think tomorrow I’m going to call my GP to schedule an appointment. I’d like to rule out a few other possibilities, make sure it is the bulging disc in my back that’s causing some of the radiating pain and discomfort, before going through a process that will likely involve another MRI, maybe additional steroids, and, if worse comes to worst, talk of surgery.
It could be much worse, I know. This evening, I learned that a friend of my sister and her husband, one of his groomsman, who I sat with at the wedding and who seemed like a really nice guy, was killed a few days ago in a mountain-climbing accident in Colorado. And he and his wife — who I think has no immediate family in the United States — were either just expected, or just had, a baby.
A twinge, here and there, from my back doesn’t really seem so terrible in comparison.