Yesterday I went to my hometown.

Almost.

I was in Reading, Pennsylvania.

My hometown is why I’m missing Pennsylvania, but I was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, because that’s where the hospital is.

I didn’t go to the hospital, though.

I went somewhere far more fun: the cemetery.

Your daily Lex.

A couple weeks ago, I’m talking to some family who said that they were intending to go to Reading to visit the cemetery and see the grave sites of my grandparents.

And I said to my family members, Hey, I’ll join you.

It’s slightly less than a two-hour drive for me, and that seemed reasonable to do.

They were not asking me to do that.

They hadn’t even hinted that I could do that, but I was like, Why not?

I’m there.

It’s close.

I can make my work schedule accommodate.

So off I went.

As it turned out, the family members traveling from across the country to visit the cemetery got a bit delayed from their flights and ended up showing up about two hours later than I’d expected.

So I had some time by myself.

I first went to the cemetery, acknowledged that I wasn’t sure where the gravestones are, although now I know.

And then, since I had some time to kill and I had brought my iPad for exactly this purpose, I decided to find somewhere to work.

I don’t really know the area at all anymore, nor did I ever hang out in coffee shops back when I lived there.

I was too young for that.

So I asked my Apple assistant to tell me the nearest coffee shop, and it called up a pretty cool place called Dunkin', so I went there.

And I got some work done, met up with the family, spent some time at the cemetery, not too, too long.

Then eventually went to dinner with various family members, including ones whom I almost never see.

The only bummer of all that was that we were at a restaurant that was quite noisy, and not everyone could hear everyone.

But what are you going to do?

As you may recall, as I’ve talked about a bit on this and other podcasts, I have been having a sleepiness issue.

I’m actually struggling with it today a bit, and I’m working on some appointments with some medical professionals to help on this front.

But the number one place where I am encountering sleepiness is while driving.

Not great.

So my family had been a bit nervous about, are you going to drive two hours there and then two hours back again?

Like, you should stay over.

I’m like, I’m not going to stay over.

I got to do work early the next morning.

I’m going to figure it out.

And so here was my plan.

I attempted to get a good night’s sleep the night prior, which went okay.

Not great, but okay.

And then I deferred my coffee consumption until later in the day, which I mean, instead of doing when I first woke up, I had my first coffee somewhere around 10 o’clock in the morning.

I had a second one around 11 o’clock in the morning.

I had a third one around noon.

I got in the car.

My plan was one, and then I eventually left it two when I saw how delayed the family was.

So I’m driving, and I’m feeling like I’m doing okay.

And then I’m feeling like, you know what?

I am more tired than I would like to be during this drive, and I know that the family I’m meeting is delayed anyway.

I’m going to stop at a rest stop, and I will even freely admit this, dear listener, I called up Claude because I had no idea when the next rest stop was going to show up.

And I said, Hey, Claude, tell me about the— because Claude is a CarPlay app— and I’m like, Hey, when is the next…

Here’s where I am on the road.

Here’s where I’m heading.

When am I going to get to a rest stop?

And it’s like, well, in about two miles, you’re going to be one of the Starbucks and a 7-Eleven.

And I’m like, great, I’m going there.

And I did.

And I order a coffee, and then I’m just kind of staring at the barista, and she’s staring at me.

It was not a meet cute.

It was a me being frozen in paralysis of confusion, uncertainty.

And I said, you know what?

Let’s add an extra shot to that coffee.

Actually, I said, I’m thinking about whether I should add an extra shot to that coffee.

And she’s like, do you have a lot of driving left today?

I was like, I have about three hours of driving left today, which is true in the aggregate.

And she’s like, get the extra shot.

So I did.

So then, you know, I continue on the drive.

I go to the cemetery, as I mentioned, and then I go to Dunkin'.

And at Dunkin', I don’t want to just take a table.

I got to order something.

I don’t want the calories.

I know what I’m eating for dinner.

I’ve tracked my day.

I’m ready.

But I can’t have, like, a donut.

I can’t have a bagel.

It’s not the right time.

I don’t want the calories to spare.

So I could have ordered a bottled water, but that seemed silly.

So I ordered a refresher, this weird carbonated sort of tea-esque drink that they make that’s a rip-off of some Starbucks drinks.

And I had that too.

So then I was really awake.

Like, I was fired up.

I was wired.

I was ready to go.

Meet up with the family, do the cemetery, go to the dinner, feeling good, driving home.

I get a text from my wife early in my drive that she’s leaving rehearsal.

So I call her and we’re chatting, and she’s like, are you good?

Are you awake?

And I’m like, I’m great.

Because one of my tricks for dealing with sleepiness while driving is calling somebody.

If I talk to somebody on the phone, I do a lot better.

If I’m in the car alone is the problem.

If I have a passenger, it’s much, much better.

So anyway, there I am talking to my wife.

We’re good.

I’m awake.

I feel very wired from all the caffeine.

And I tell her she can go, and I’ll call her if I have any trouble.

And I’m doing great.

My car is a little angry because I didn’t charge it at all during this drive.

And it’s like, you know, you really should stop and charge.

And I’m like, I don’t have to, though, car.

I’ll still have 40 miles when I get home, which was true.

I had 38 miles when I got home on the battery.

But the last 20 to 30 minutes of the drive, I started to feel it.

I didn’t start to feel like I was asleep at all.

Like, that was not a concern.

But I started to feel the sleepiness.

And I ended up calling home again and leveraging the power of family to stay awake on that drive.

But I couldn’t believe how tired I had gotten in that last chunk of time.

It wasn’t even, like, bedtime.

I got home at my bedtime.

I got home at 11.

I usually go to sleep between 11 and 11:15, 11:20.

And so here, you know, it’s still 10:30, and I’m starting to feel— Tired.

And that car sleeping is tired way.

And then I still had concerns like, well, geez, will I even be able to sleep tonight with all the caffeine I had?

And the answer was a resounding yes.

I don’t know if I’m getting immune to it or what.

Anyway, all worked out.

I did not have to join my other relatives at the cemetery because I came home safe and sound in one piece.

Anyway, that’s my story.

That’s my Thursday.

I hope you had a wonderful Thursday yourself.

Actually, I guess mostly that was my Wednesday, but that’s my Thursday episode about my Wednesday.

Yeah.

By the way, if you want podcast recommendations, I made a little website for finding podcast recommendations.

Go to pret, P-R-E-T dot LexFreeman dot com, podcast recommendation tool, P-R-E-D, pret dot LexFreeman dot com.

Check it out.

I’d like to know what you think.

Goodbye.