The thought began as the end of a dream and dovetailed into wakefulness. It was an odd thought to have in a dream — coming at me not as one of the surreal and fractured impulses that usually bombard me during my REM cycle, but more as a complete vocalized sentence.  It was more like a remembered song lyric. You need to get a physical, was the thought. Not a very dreamlike message or a terribly catchy or poetic phrase for a song lyric (is there even a rhyme for “physical?”), but the words grabbed my attention, as if they had been scribbled on a Post-it with “TO DO!” written importantly across the top. I tried to put it out of my head and go about my morning business (shit, shave, shower, coffee), but it nagged me.  It had been years since I’d had a physical. Many people would find that irresponsible. I like to think of myself as a take-care-of-business kind of guy, so that kind of nagged me as well. Maybe it was time for me to bite the bullet, drop my pants, and cough. I had hoped it …