A Perfect Moment

Last Friday Carol met up with an old friend late in the afternoon, so I came home to a quiet house.

I was aware of her rendezvous, so I was pretty psyched on my ride home. Quiet time is therapeutic.

Kissed Maka on the head a few times, filled her bowl with cold water, gave her a treat, slapped on some shorts, poured myself a short whiskey, hit the recliner, and dialed up a documentary on John Coltrane on Netflix.

I have a long list of stuff saved up on Netflix and a shorter list on Amazon Prime. Stuff that I want to watch. The list is long because if I watched everything I want to watch all the time I would be living upstairs, Carol downstairs.

Carol and I have tastes and interests that are diametrically opposed. Sometimes I'll watch my stuff with her on the couch, but the vibe is weird. She tunes out what I am watching and plays games on her tablet. There is an "I don't give a shit about this stuff" vibe permeating the air, and it takes away from my enjoyment.

Opposite to that, she watches HGTV, and Law and Order endlessly. I tune that out and read my magazines.

That is long term marriage in a nutshell.

When I get home on Friday I am a zombie. Thursday rolls into Friday and there is an extreme lack of sleep going on. I am wiped out.

I got sucked into the documentary. So real, so interesting, so informative. The atmosphere was perfect. Both in the documentary and in my head.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have lots of documentaries, many of which suck. I call them pseudo-documentaries. Apparently the thinking is if you cover a big name, like Jimi Hendrix for instance, people will watch them no matter what. But if you have the wrong people offering commentary, if the approach is superficial, if the point of view is sensationalistic, they fucking suck. I have given up on many like that.

But if you have the right people offering commentary, if the proper reverence is there, if the truth is there - raw or not - you got something.

The Coltrane documentary was superb. I sat there comfortably tired, sipping whiskey slowly, completely tuned into what I was hearing and seeing. And feeling.

I was in a perfect place. I felt it physically and psychologically. I was happy. I was at peace. Completely content.

The perfect way to roll into a four day weekend. I mean seriously, if you kick it off in happiness and peace, you don't have to climb down from the mountain of discontent just to get to ground zero.

Moments like that are rare. I believe they add minutes on to the end of your life.