Nocturnal Ramblings

(Sitting on my front porch in my camping chair, drinking an ice cold beer and listening to Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue:  The Complete Sessions)

Almost every night after Jude and I get J.P. into bed, around 8:30 p.m., I put Joey in the City Elite (stroller) and we hit the streets.  Usually he is fast asleep as I turn the corner and head up the hill on Acklen Avenue.  Ear buds in, as we walk I listen to a podcast or two on my iPhone through "Stitcher," another one of my favorite apps.  

Many nights, we walk to Bongo Java and I order a "mood elevator," chatting briefly with whomever is working that night.  I sit down inside, drink my coffee and read a book on my Kindle Fire as Joey sleeps in the stroller.  

Other nights, especially if I've had to work late and missed dinner, we walk to Chago's Cantina.  There,  I eat a late dinner and have a beer or two while I read.  

Some nights, we walk my 3-mile neighborhood running route.  Conservatively, I've probably run that route 350-400 times in the decade Jude and I have lived in our house.  It's nice to walk it with Joey while he sleeps.

These nocturnal ramblings are something special, to me, that Joey and I do together.  They're made more special because I know they won't last much longer.  Soon, summer will be over and it will get cooler at night, too cool for Joey to be out in the City Elite with me.  Or, when Jude stops breast feeding (which will be soon, I think), he won't eat at 10:15 p.m., like he does now.  He'll go to bed earlier.  Either way, I'll be on my own again after dinner and bedtime, which makes me feel a bit sad and nostalgic already.

My nocturnal ramblings with Joey are the best, most relaxing and stress free part of my day.  It's when I clear my head and, really, just unwind.  It's my time to think or my time not to think.  Most of all, it's my time to be alone with Joey.