Getting Back on Track
I wrote in Sunday’s post that I’ve been feeling like my life is just a little off track. Then I looked around my house and realized one of the reasons is that I’ve been half-assing my beloved Pumpkin Palooza. I had some, but not all, of my fall decorations out, and then a summer-y wreath was lying on the table. Furthermore, I hadn’t had one special meal or snack to celebrate the start of football season. This was all wrong! I needed to rectify the situation right away. I lit a fall candle… …and got out all the rest of my fall decorations while watching the first half of the Dolphins game. At halftime I put together a little charcuterie board… …and then we watched the Dolphins come from behind to win the game. Fall is back on track! Let’s move on to running. SIGH. So far, my calf seems to be better, but my race plans are in tatters. Back in May, I signed up for a race on November 9th. It’s a trail race, and you run as far as you can in a certain amount of time. I chose the 12 hour option. Hahahahaha. Even if everything goes perfectly from now on, I’ll have no business running a 12 hour race in two months. I guess the good news is, it’s a 4.5 mile loop that you run over and over again. I can go and just run a couple loops. That would be kind of sad- but maybe less sad than not going at all? I’ve already paid for the race so if I can run at all, I’ll probably go. Now let’s deal with this jury summons. I know it’s our civic duty, but I think it’s unfair that it creates more of a financial hardship for some people than others. Additionally, some people never get called for jury duty, and some people get called all the time! Luckily I’ve come up with a great solution. My plan is, all registered voters would be required to submit a form every five years, indicating the time they would like to do their jury duty. That way, people would be able to pick a time that works best with their work schedule, and have time in advance to arrange for childcare, etc. Of course, if everyone chose July of 2027 it would be a fiasco. But I have solutions for that too! People who are retired, independently wealthy, or who have a very flexible work schedule could volunteer to be “swing jurors,” willing to be called at any time. There could be incentives for people who serve in months like December (which I’m guessing would be the least popular)- like if you sit on a jury in December, you’re exempt for the rest of your life. I’ll be submitting my request for a postponement- do you think I should include my detailed plan for an overhaul of the entire system? Haha, that might get me excused permanently (“Don’t let this woman near the courthouse- she’s obviously a troublemaker!”) Anyway, I’m starting to feel a little better. As long as I can continue to run and nothing else goes wrong, I think I’m back on track. How do you like my plan? Would you volunteer to be a “swing juror?” Top photo by Redd F on Unsplash