a long thirty minutes

I generally do 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill, while watching something on  television.  Today, I started my stint just as Joe Biden began his eulogy of the sainted John McCain.  To hear him tell it, they were like brothers or even more so.  Soulmates would be more like it.  Used each other's toothbrushes, practically.

  He managed to drag himself into the discussion, speaking---at length--of the tragedies he had suffered in his life.

  I always thought that McCain was a testy sort of fellow, stubborn and opinionated and not too easy to get along with.  Biden disabused me of that notion.  McCain was apparently a saint who had walked among us unawares, on water when necessary.  Biden took plenty of time to reiterate his virtues.  And to inform us that someday the sun would shine again, after we had suffered sufficient grief over the loss of the holy man.

  My thirty minutes were up but Biden was still going strong. . I tore myself away.