~ I tried to be careful today from the moment I awoke. I made sure of my footing, sleep still in my eyes, lest I step on some dog toy left on the floor. I made sure my aim was good. After splashing some cold water in my face, I went to the kitchen for that first cup of ambition. No day could start right without it, and on this day I was leaving nothing to chance. Pouring the hot blood of life into the cup, adding the customary level teaspoon of sugar, and completing it with a dash of milk, I was successfully getting the day off to a good start. Lo and behold, I made it all the way to my comfortable recliner without sloshing a drop! A couple of sips reincarnated me from a zombie into a reasonable facsimile of a human being.
~ A dose of the morning news, its ingredients including a smidgen of sports and a dash of the weather, had me about ready to declare the resurrection complete. Vaccinated with the news in brief and the caffeine working its magic, I set out to complete the daily routine. It was now safe to subject my face to the torture of cold steel. This was accomplished without bloodletting. The immersion beneath the steaming spray of the shower slowly awakened the other parts of my body. The bar of soap made no excursions to the floor, moving from soap dish to hand and back without interruption.
~ It was only after the second cup of coffee that the transformation was complete. Dressed in the appropriate gear for a day of battle, I double checked my itinerary and stepped out into a crisp but sunny morning. Each step I took was calculated and strategically placed to avoid the patches of ice dotting the driveway. Safely inside the cab of the truck, not unlike a pilot of a jumbo jet, I checked the battery, oil, and fuel gauges. Nothing was left to chance inside the house, so it was outside.
~ Curious that a day associated with doom and gloom, would fall so close to another that is linked with good fortune. Perhaps it was because of a certain juxtaposition of the stars or a syzygy of the planets that those two days so diametrically opposed would be separated by a single day. It seems unlikely that it could be a sheer coincidence of their proximity on the calendar. Could it be that in their infinite wisdom in a secret ceremony, the ancient Druids performed a sacrifice to Baal within the confines of what we call Stonehenge? They may have foreseen the one day of fates could have lasting affects upon the approaching equinox. So within that ring of monoliths they set in motion a fail safe, if you will, to counteract Armageddon with a day of pleasure.
~ If we are destined to suffer the Ides of March, then it is fortuitous that we can celebrate the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day one day removed. The clouds of the Ides soon enough give way to the rainbow that Leprechauns use to hide their pots of gold.
~ I have survived the Ides of March, the remainder of the day went as well as it had begun. Overly cautious maybe, but why play with fire? I don't know if any good fortune will present itself to me on St. Patrick's Day, but perhaps I was giving a sampling today, March 15.
~ Therefore, I tender to you, beware the Ides of March, and may Irish eyes be smiling upon you.
~
No. 80
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