Jesse

Whenever I have a weekday off, I feel like it’s the night before a snow day, and the excitement of it keeps me up late. I played Baldur's Gate and Borderlands until almost 4 in the morning just because I could. My eyes wanted to close so badly they were stinging, but my brain kept the party going.

 It’s rare for me to have a day to sleep in as late as I want. My girlfriend Liz and I both work 9 to 5s and keep busy on the weekends. She’s always up earlier than me, so when I wake up, I’m in bed alone. I don’t mind it though, when I text her she always comes running up to greet me. It’s also nice to have a few moments to just stare up at the sunlight on the ceiling and slowly come back into my body. My body that really, really hurts.

I ran a half marathon two days ago and I’m still feeling it. I kinda ignored the last few training runs, and even though I finished ahead of my goal time, my feet and hips and neck (for some reason?) are paying for it now. I take 3 ibuprofen from the nightstand. I don’t have time to be sore, I’ve got plans today!

My sister Jamie is off today too. She works retail, so it’s rare we’re both off on the same day. She’s my best friend, and she and Liz have gotten really close over the past 3 years, so we all love hanging out together. She’s coming down to our place in South Philly around 1, which means in Jamie time, she’ll be here around 2-2:30.

I come downstairs and hug Liz, and tell her all about the monster slaying and dragon hunting I accomplished last night while she slept. She doesn’t really play those types of games (she prefers Fortnite) but she excitedly follows along whenever I talk about them. I eat a quick breakfast and then we decide to run up to CVS before Jamie gets here. We usually walk, it’s only 15 minutes away, but my feet still feel like broken glass stuffed inside a sock, so we take the 45 instead. See evidence below.

We pick up our different make-brain-feel-good meds #couplegoals and by then the ibuprofen’s kicked in. I feel up for a slow walk back, so we stroll down East Passyunk. It’s 70 degrees so we bask in the sun. I usually have to sneak walks in-between breaks at work; it feels really freeing to just be able to hold hands, talk, and not worry or care about anything else at all.

We get back a little before Jamie gets in. Jamie usually needs help parallel parking (she lives in the suburbs) but today she nailed it on her own! We hug and then give her a little cheer for slaying it. I’m in the mood to craft, and Jamie is suuuuper crafty. All I have to do is mention the word ‘Michaels’ and Jamie’s ready to get back in the car. She saw a TikTok about someone cutting up cardboard to look like gingerbread houses, decorating them with white puffy paint, and then stringing them up to make a lil holiday garland. I love it!!

I drive the three of us over to Michaels. Liz isn’t a crafter, so she wanders off to the Ulta next door. Jamie and I bolt in and begin scanning the aisles for supplies. We get distracted by the miniatures section as always and consider creating a small dollhouse instead. Then we see that a miniature oven alone is $7 and sadly walk away. We realize as we grab the puffy paint that I don’t have any cardboard at home. As we consider picking a new project, a Michaels employee walks down the aisle literally dragging 3 cardboard boxes. I ask her if we could have them and she says “Happy Birthday” and hands them over. Mission accomplished!

We stop by a TJ Maxx next door to see if they have the Puffer Jacket Snoopy doormat. They do not. They do have puffer jacket snoopy AND woodstock salt and pepper shakers, but Liz reminds me we already don’t use the salt and pepper shakers we own, and I reluctantly walk away. Look at how cute they are though!

We get back to our place and put on holiday episodes of Bob’s Burgers. Jamie and I get to work! She immediately starts creating the gingerbread version of Philly’s City Hall, and I get annoyed, because why show me up in my own house? Rude. It looks amazing though, she really nailed it. We spend a few hours on the houses and really put our heart and soul into them. Then we put them off to the side to dry. Liz has been playing Fortnite and drinking lager while we craft.

While they dry, we start up the new Mario Party Jamboree. Jamie’s already unlocked every map and character, so we play the Goomba Lagoon and Bowser maps. Liz started ahead of us by 3 stars, but later in the game she lands on a swap space, and I take all of her stars and end up winning the game. She is mad at me. I am fine with that. 

We play other mini games in Mario Party for a few hours, until it’s almost 10 pm. It’s become clear the houses will need to dry overnight, and it’s sadly time for Jamie to return home. She only lives 40 minutes away, but it sucks whenever she needs to leave. I’d love to either teleport or be neighbors, and I really miss when we used to be able to just walk across the hall and hangout. I walk her to her car and then she drives me back to my house because we both have anxiety and also want to keep yapping.

Liz and I get super sleepy and decide to head to bed. I clean up my office a bit to make it easier for myself to start work tomorrow. I do some crosswords to help my brain turn off a bit, and then turn in for the night. It was a really relaxing and beautiful day with the two people I love most. 

Jesse is a transmasc Software Engineer living in South Philly. You can find him bopping to Charli xcx with friends, playing Baldur's Gate, or on instagram at @jet.thom