Not Late Enough Again

John called. "I'm leaving right now," he said definitively. 

I can make the drive in seventeen minutes. I drive slow. John drives fast. So I gave him twenty minutes. See what I did there?

After I got to the pool, I stalled and went through an elaborate stretching routine to wait on John. We had already agreed to swim for one hour. I wanted to start at the same time. 

Thirty-one minutes after he called, I started swimming. I swam three and a half minutes before he came through the front door. How do you know? you ask. The far end of the pool is by the door. Every time I get there, I take a peek, flip, then check my watch. Yes, I can do all of this while swimming. My Garmin has big numbers that I can see underwater while I am gliding off the wall.

Have you done the math? John was only fourteen and a half minutes late. Sure enough, just like yesterday, he must have glanced at the clock on the wall and realized that he was not late enough. He went into the bathroom and stayed there for seven minutes more bringing him up the a full twenty-one minutes late.

He says I am preaching his funeral. I have told him more than once to put it in writing that his casket is to be rolled into the sanctuary twenty minutes after the start of his funeral. I am not joking. I have told him this and I mean it. If the funeral does not last twenty minutes, he misses his own funeral.

Before we get to the swimming, however, let me flash you back to the start of the day. I spent the first four hours of Friday working. No, I did not mow, although I have two yards that need it. I did not move although I need to work on that. I did not do stuff to Plate City, although I have stuff I want to do. I worked for MDCC. Yes, I am one of those lazy teacher Tyrone Jackson complains about.

Not only did I work the first four hours, but I worked an hour after lunch. I will work all day Saturday. I will work Sunday afternoon. Then exams hit and I will be crazy next week. Pray for me. Just another week, and I will be off.

At the pool, I did a straight swim of 3,350 yards in 1:04:43. Yes, that is my longest swim since Chicot. No, I did not do anything else. There was no time. After the swim, I showered, dressed, and took my wife out to dinner at Hilltop Restaurant where I saw my big boss and was tempted to try to explain some things to her. She, however, left before I could. She probably did not want to talk shop on an evening out anyway. I did not really want to but felt the need to. She will probably be calling me next week anyway.

I at least got something done. I swam. Saturday I plan to work in some training between bouts of study and school work. That is the plan, the hope. Thank you, Jesus, for hope.