December 23, 2003 - Groggy, Not Grinchy

I also stayed up because I came up with an idea to contact some of my old friends from college. Over the years, I'd lost touch with many of them and didn't have current addresses. Even though I tried web searches, I couldn't find much and I began to think of it as a lost cause.

Then, digging through some old papers this week, I discovered my old address book from college."Hey," I thought, "their home addresses from college were most likely their parents' home addresses. And the parents, more than likely, would still be living at those addresses. So if I write to them in care of those addresses, it might just get to them."

With this in mind, I wrote up a holiday letter, printed out several copies, and put it in envelopes for mailing.

By the time I finished with all of this, I don't care to admit how late it was. It was, however, promptly five hours later that I was awakened by a phone call.

This call was from a friend whose book I'm editing and who wanted a rough idea on how much longer it would take. Without making any definite promises, I told him I'd raise it to a high priority.

Then I had a decision to make: should I go back to bed? I figured this was a bad idea, because in my experiences, once the phone rings once it's going to keep ringing. It's the universe's alarm clock.

Besides, I had a number of things I needed to take care of, so I got up. I bundled my dog, Una, into the car to run a few errands. First I mailed the Christmas letters. Then I picked up the egg nog that hadn't been available at the grocery store I went to yesterday.

Then I went to the only pet store that sells the dog food I feed Una. It's an all natural dog food that's supposed to be good for her coat, which is especially good for her, given she's prone to dry skin and allergies.

While I was there, I picked up a dog bone as a Christmas treat. The Gryphon and I are doing our gift exchange tonight, and I figure giving Una a treat will keep her occupied.

One nice thing about running errands today was that people were in the holiday spirit. For example, a woman in the grocery store who was ahead of me with a huge cart full of items let me go ahead with my three things.

By the end of my travels, I'd taken off my hat and scarf. The weather is a bit warmer now, and the weather reports say that if there's any snow it will just be a dusting. So it will be good traveling weather for those visiting relatives.

I stopped off at the house just long enough to drop off my purchases before taking a nice long walk with Una. Wouldn't you know it: the minute I walk in the door I got a phone call from my editor, offering me an afternoon assignment. Of course, I said yes, anticipating lighter work days ahead during the holidays.

When I picked up the phone, I must have sounded confused, considering I had a dog on a leash in one hand and my packages in the other.

"I'm sorry I woke you," my editor said.

"Don't worry. A friend did that an hour ago."

I'd say that after two phone calls, running errands and taking a dog walk, I'm finally ready to start the day.

Moral:
You can't put the universe on snooze.