February 26, 2017:

I was anxious, she was drunk, and she irritated me. I've had nicer moments.

I thought of another time decades ago when another woman's nonstop left me feeling bound and tied, as though the vibration of her voice wrapped around my nerve pathways like lariats around the legs of a steer.

That time I got out of the car and walked home. She was terribly, terribly hurt. This time it was my car and I drove her home, and I tried hard to be friendly, and apologized for being bad company.

Thirty years of learning how things work.