Reality Only Takes Yes for an Answer

There’s often a short window between realizing the right thing to do and doing it, where a person goes crazy for a bit. For example, I went temporarily mad the other day after getting home from the gym. The garbage truck had left the bin in front of my parking spot, so I had to get out and move it. I parked, unloaded my things, carried them up to my second floor unit on my wobbly quads (it was leg day), then I plopped into a chair to take a breath. Then I remembered I had groceries in the trunk. I actually said “No!” aloud when I realized, the way you say “No!” when you drop a meatball on your pants. I’ve made many exclamations like that, but this time, in the silence that followed, the absurdity of it struck me. Who was I saying “no” to? The groceries were still in the trunk no matter how I felt about it. I was scolding reality, like it was a dog that had misbehaved. “No, Reality! Bad! Don’t make me go down to the car again, Actual Situation!” This thought was funny enough that I…