Nomad Life - Day 36

With one minor interruption in my sleep, I got close to eight hours overnight!  At 0600, I awoke and realized that I felt quite refreshed - it was very easy to get my telework day started from the La Salle House (good internet).  At about 0730, I ventured out of my room and made my way to the cafeteria where the Brothers set up light breakfast fare (cereal, fruit, yogurt, juices).  Somehow, I'd already missed seeing Brother Colman (he'd come and gone almost an hour earlier) but I talked with some of his Brothers while I quickly ate.  I then walked down to Brother Colman's room and we chatted briefly before making our way to the La Salle House chapel for Morning Prayer.  Between 0800 and 0830, I got to experience some of the monastic life of the Brothers: chanting, prayer in unison, personalized readings and intentions and the sharing (within their community) of shared priorities and vision.  I was able to also appreciate some of the beautiful artwork I saw in the chapel - overall, a very special experience!  Afterwards, I sat with Brother Colman while we ate a snack and helped him with some more IT issues (WhatsApp).  Before long, though, he told me he had to get ready for a doctor's appointment but added that I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed/wanted.  Saying goodbye to Brother Colman (0920), I resumed teleworking in my "cell" at the La Salle House.  During this time, I received the best news as a dad: one of my daughters (Erin) had gotten married!  She'd told us previously that she and her fiancé, Austin, planned to elope but I was never certain of the date.  It felt good to know they'd finally tied the knot and the news of their nuptials made my work day a bit brighter.  We'll be celebrating together soon!  My meetings finally ended at 1200 and I packed up my car.  Before departing Beltsville, however, I had a short meeting with the Director of the La Salle House (Brother Richard), who welcomed me to stay with the brothers again in the future.  I admitted that I had felt quite relaxed and restful in this place of solitude and told him I hoped to return for a visit soon.  Next, I drove north on US-1 to locate a restaurant a friend had recommended.  I arrived at Jailbreak (in Laurel, MD) at around 1230 and joined up with my friends, Tyler and Amanda, for lunch.  Tyler was one of my new hires back during the time I was a hiring manager and I'd helped to get him his first job.  Since then, he'd moved up very high in his career and it was great to learn about his professional life and personal happiness. During the next hour, we enjoyed some delicious food (corn pasta for me and flatbread for them).  I also tried one of Jailbreak's signature beers (Crooklyn's Finest) - it was also good.  At 1345, I said goodbye to my friends and headed towards Mollie's house.  This required some back road driving to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and then a long slog (LOTS of traffic) around the I-495 Beltway and into Virginia.  Fortunately, I had a meeting for work to keep me entertained and this helped the drive feel a bit (but not a lot) shorter.  The weather was nice but I saw distant clouds that looked threatening.  After passing through the gauntlets of the Wilson Bridge and (when I got on I-95) Occoquan River, I finally started to get to some faster speeds.  Unfortunately, the Virginia drivers seem to have made passing exit and entry ramps a messy evolution - I noticed several years ago (in Massachusetts) that Interstate traffic slows considerably due to the last minute lane crossers... Despite the long drive from Laurel to Fredericksburg, I was still pleased to get off the highway at about 1600.  Google Maps took me on what appeared to be a quite circuitous route (east into old Fredericksburg, south on US-1 and then back to the west and across I-95 again) to Mollie's apartment but it didn't matter because neither she nor Alex were actually there.  Hoping to find a happy hour, I drove north to Plank Road and stopped in at the Durango Grill.  They seemed to be selling beer at very cheap rates (as low as $1 for Bud Light) and the clientele were definitely filling up on "swill." The staff were nice, though, and I ended up trying a few local beers and enjoying a good buffalo chicken sandwich, mac & cheese and cherry cobbler before I was finished.  By that time (1745), Mollie told me she was home and I headed back to her apartment.  When I arrived, I was greeted warmly by Maple (her dog) and got settled in their guest room and doing a bit more telework.  After finishing my work week, I headed back outside to get the rest of my 10K steps in Mollie's neighborhood.  Since I'd barely walked at all during the earlier part of the day, this required a nearly three mile walk to reach my goal.  The weather was a bit warm and sticky but was still glad to get some exercise.  The sun was shaded a bit by some smog or thin clouds - it was possible to look directly at it and the orange ball was quite subdued.  I called Erin to congratulate her and Austin but wasn't able to reach her.  In an attempt to find some new birds for my eBird project, I used the Merlin app on some noisy house sparrows and it worked great.  Hopefully, I'll be able to keep increasing my lifetime bird totals with this tool...  Back at Mollie's, I caught up on some reading and made preliminary plans for the following day.  By 2200, I was ready to go to sleep (Mollie and Alex already had retired for the evening).  Less than 15 minutes later, I was fast asleep.  Another great day of Nomad Life!