The Sparkling Water Was Free

February eighteenth. The bouldering gym did a thing for Valentine's weekend. A mixer, the sign said, and I want to be clear that neither Simone nor I read the word 'mixer' before we signed up for the competition that same evening, so when we arrived and found a folding table with sparkling water and a little spread of crackers and someone had hung a string of small lights near the check-in desk, we both stood in the doorway for a beat too long.

The week had been the particular kind of long that doesn't announce itself until Friday evening when you realize you've been running on forward momentum and nothing else. I had come straight from work. Simone had come straight from wherever Simone comes from on Friday evenings, which I have never thought to ask. We found the wall. We climbed for a while. We did not discuss our feelings about Valentine's Day. At some point we ended up near the folding table holding cups of sparkling water and I thought: this is fine. This is, actually, pretty good.

mid-conversation energy, 100% chalk included

There's a specific tiredness that comes from doing something physical after a week that was tired in a different way, a desk-and-fluorescent-light tired, and the two kinds cancel each other out into something that just feels like evening. Simone noticed the chalk still on my hands at some point. She pointed at one palm like it was evidence of something. It might have been.

very professional valentine's plans

The sign-up sheet, the bouldering competition, I mean, the thing from February seventh, is still on the gym counter. We are registered. I have looked at it twice since we signed up and both times felt the same half-second of 'wait, did we, ' followed by the answer, which is yes. Yes, we did. But that's for another post. Tonight I just wanted to say: the sparkling water was free, the lights were a nice touch, and sometimes the calendar hands you an occasion and you take it even when you're already tired.