today this stuff happened

today i got up before the sun, quietly put on clothes and made a hemp protein and maca (an amazonian superfood) shake, grabbed my leftovers from 'the garden snack club', a exquisitely delicious and tiny thai place where i ate last night and headed out in the cool morning to work. i have a regular schedule now, tuesday through saturday starting anywhere from 6:45am to 8:30am and getting off eight and a half hours later. i sort of like it. once there, i'm nearly an old hand, everyone greets me and lets me go about my business. i guess they trust i know what to do, and in a relative way, i do. i place the order for the mainland produce, i receive deliveries from local vendors, i stock the produce case and make it pretty, i rearrange the walk-in cooler a million times. i talk to customers about herbs and colon cleansers and (yes, this is true) the fact that there is no supplement that can replace the need for water.
on my lunch break, i intersected with a character i couldn't quite believe was real. a pirate. he was about 80, one regular leg, one peg leg--not wood but modern materials like steel and rubber, a golden hoop earring, a tattoo on his forearm, and a parrot, yes a parrot on his shoulder. he struggled to get out of his SUV but managed to heave himself up on the curb and then turned to me and asked if the tattoo shop was open. i said i didn't know, but i'd find out and knocked on the door. it was ajar, so i opened it and he thanked me as the tattoo guy came on the scene. the fact that he didn't have an eye patch assured me this was no costume. real talk.
when i got off, there was still daylight left so i decided to go for a run, but first i checked my po box and found another letter from my jailbird love. i was surprised because it was only a few days ago that i received one from him. i parked beside the huge banyan tree by the federal building and went to read my letter in the privacy of it's many folds. i want to quote a passage, but in fairness to him, i won't. it is enough to say that he wrote this letter as the year began, looking out on his barbed wire view, his cavernous heart poured out on the page for my pleasure. oh yes, he does stimulate my dramatic side, it's fundamental to romance, and this is by far the most romantic 'thing' i've ever had.
i went for a run, i did all the dishes, and then i cooked a breadfruit--one of the awesome things that grow on trees here. i'm tired, i'm working, i'm dreaming up my next incarnation.