Oughta’ Be Easy

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I was alone at the hot tub on Friday morning. 

Unfortunately, I had to hobble to get there, my knee still howling, but I looked up and around. 

A bird moving across a bright blue sky. A palm tree. Beach chairs. My phone…

…way over there.

Nothing much to think about. 

And my favorite part about this particular spot is that the hot tub is amazing and the pool is better.

A young girl jumped into the pool and did a lap. An older woman, who appeared to be her coach, had a stopwatch. When the kid got to the other side, the coach yelled out:

“13 seconds.”

I watched for a long while. Each lap was between 12 seconds and 15 seconds. The young girl wasn’t even breathing hard.

A little while later, I asked Kathy to time me as I made a lap. I took off, but 5 seconds later, while under water, I started laughing.

It was hard to swim with a messed up knee. I kept going though.

“26 seconds,” Kathy announced as I popped up on the other side.

“Damn, I’m old.”

I’ve read for hours. On the chair. Tub to pool. Made steak on the grill.

And I thought about that flash of time in the tub.

“Life can be easy.”

I considered what I’d normally be doing on a work day.

The tub is easier.

(Side note: I wrapped up the knee and took a couple of Aleve - don’t wanna’ jinx it - but I might be all right).

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