What? Did I say I wanted the sun to shine today? Did I spend most of yesterday wishing and hoping that it wouldn’t rain, so that I could get out in the yard and do some mowing this afternoon? (After the race and the ballgame, of course.)

Yes, I did want those things, and for once I got them. Now that the day is over, it seems like a lot of energy used up hoping for something that gave me no more than twenty minutes of time in the yard. That’s how long I lasted before I couldn’t feel my hands or catch my breath or stand up any more.

Sure, I’m out of shape, and proud of it. Okay, maybe not “proud,” in the sense of being proud. I am what I am, and as much as I might like to be something different, it doesn’t do me a whole lot of good to think that way. Wishing and hoping won’t do it, and I’m way too lazy to work at it.

But not too lazy to wear myself out with twenty minutes of mowing. Is there a contradiction there? Maybe it’s not so much laziness as time allocation. It would take up so much of my valuable time exercising to get in shape, and then (being in shape and all) I’d have to spend more time working in the yard. That’s the very definition of a vicious irony. (Is there such a thing as a vicious irony, or did I make that up?)

I have other ways I like to use my time. I’d rather read or watch TV. Heck, I’d rather sleep, if I could.

Anyway, it was warmer today than yesterday, thanks to the unexpected sunshine I wished so hard for, and that contributed to my quick exit from the mowing arena. Besides, the grass in the area where I worked today was much higher than any I mowed through yesterday, some of it over my head. (If I scrunched a little.) So there are all kinds of reasons I cashed in early. But I still got a workout that was intense enough to leave me sweating and panting. That has to be worth something.