Leap III

It’s nearly 50°F and I’m just back from a morning walk with two of the Parts West Walk Posse. As predicted, the rain began near the end of the walk, and I arrived home wet and sweaty. Tomorrow it will be in the 20s once more. This may be the weirdest winter I’ve ever seen.

I stopped at the post office and happily found my poem-bearing postcard from Jenny. Perfect timing. I sheltered it from water-bearing sky all the way home.

“It takes a great deal of love to give a damn,” she writes. “Be rebellious. Do more than kiss a cheek.”*

Last leap day, I was swinging on the set next door in the snow and preparing to turn fifty. There’s something that feels more ominous about fifty-four. Still, maybe I’ll turn a cartwheel.

Two leaps ago, I bought my car. The one I still drive. That heated seat still keeps my ass warm.

Today I will get a massage, only my second since Kim left in July. One doesn’t often have a massage on February 29.

I should go to town meeting tonight. I have a love/hate relationship with town meeting, and sometimes I don’t make it there, especially if it’s on my birthday. Today is not my birthday. Tomorrow we vote.

Give a damn. Be rebellious.

Maybe I’ll go.

 

 

*Jennifer Hill’s new book, You Look Young Enough to Be Relevant, is available here.