I’m afraid I overextended myself today. Everything I did seemed a little bit harder than it should have been. Instead of quitting, as a smarter person would have done, I just kept on going.

As a result, Mom has a new computer monitor, and I think I have a cold. I know you can’t catch cold from walking through the pouring rain, wheeling a Best Buy shopping cart out to the further reaches of the parking lot. But the rain didn’t make me feel refreshed or exhilarated. It made me feel wet and wilted.

I might not have a cold, but I do have a sniffle, and a scratchy throat. My wrist isn’t feeling quite as good as it did yesterday, but the brace is still helping. I can’t let it keep me from doing what needs to be done. Mom was apologetic, as if she forced me to go monitor shopping with her, when the truth is that she gave me every chance to back out and I refused.

Anyway, we got her a big, bright flat-screen monitor that nearly fills up her new apartment. It will be much easier for her to see, so much so that it was worth dragging it through the wind and rain and up nine stories. (In the elevator, of course.) I feel good about it, even if I feel bad about everything else, including the condition of my head and hand.

It’s been so long since I drove in the rain that I almost forgot how to work the windshield wipers on the Saturn. I was just about to pull over and get the manual out of the glove box when it came back to me. The wipers have seven speeds, so I’m prepared for any type or amount of rain. Well, the car is prepared. I’m definitely not.