I feel pretty...no...no...I feel normal

I accidentally took a drink of a super-heated Diet Coke about an hour ago. You never know how hot the inside of a black car can get in the sun until you feel a near-boiling, bubbly syrup scorching your throat. It was cloudy when I got out of the car and I wasn't gone long. How was I to know that Diet Coke gets hot that quickly? Regardless, apart from my scorched esophogus and a queasy feeling in my gut, I feel fairly normal today. For the first time in about a week and half.

Now, there is this part of me (swimming around a chicken salad boat in a pool of super-heated Diet Coke) that has this uneasy feeling about that other shoe. You know the one. The one that hasn't dropped yet. Ashcroft warns of attacks on Boston. Major sporting events get back into full swing this weekend. There is the potential for everything to be wrong in the next few days.

Yet, I feel fairly normal.

The sun is shining (be wary, Diet Coke drinkers), the humidity is low, the work-week is almost over, and some good friends are going to pop out a young'n here in the next nine months. Normalcy (that word that the politicians have been swimming in for the last week or so) has put up its flag on Mt. Willis.

In four hours, I get to leave work. I join all of my co-workers in their on-call status (thought I'm not sure what local newsies can do in a World War III situation). But, I will labor more on the prospect of keep my emotions in check.

So, for my friends in Boston, my friends in St. Louis, my friends in Denver, Columbia, Greenville, Springfield, Texas, Kansas City and the rest of country...enjoy this weekend as much as you can. Be careful and keep your eye on the sky for the other shoe... but know that a normal life is still possible and you can live it.

Just keep your Diet Coke in the fridge.