It started in October. The holiday season kicked into full swing with Halloween, which might be the most anxiously awaited holiday of the year at my house. I suffered a serious knee injury the week before Halloween, but we had the November elections, Thanksgiving, and Christmas arriving before we knew it, with all the hussle and bussle that go with them. It continued into January with my wife’s birthday and some major issues at work, and then we finally got to February where they continued. It feels like we’ve been running non-stop since October. Prior to this weekend, we’ve been out of town for five weekends in a row. My music choices have been changing as I’ve tried to keep up the pace. Faster, faster, if it didn’t have enough BPM’s or pounding energy, I wasn’t working for me. I found myself listening to a lot of Black Flag, Bad Religion, the Specials, and the Projects on the train ride to/from work.
Don’t get me wrong; it has been good times, a whole lotta fun with family, friends, and great places. But it was all starting to catch up with me. Last week I was on my fourth cold of the season, my knee is in bad shape as I’ve been doing hard rehab in a final attempt to avoid ligament reconstruction surgery, and my body has felt like it’s falling apart. On Saturday, finally at home for the first weekend in six, I downloaded the Houston duo Papermoons’ “Follow the Sun,” a delicate, melodic song of peace and tenderness, fell asleep at 9 pm, and had the best night of sleep I’ve had in months. Coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not.