Saturday, January 22, 2005

Weekend Workers

I can still remember living with the assumption of a working weekend, when a particularly langorous weekend jaunt before going to the office was a treat and a bold decision not to go at all was a euphoria until a doubled level of angst befell me on Sunday night.

Working on the weekend was simply caveated into any social promise I attempted to make.

So, now, that I'm working today, it is sort of an opportunity to compare. What made those working weekends intolerable, these ones .... almost relaxing.

I ponder. I work the question. And at comes a simple explanation: the absence of expectation, the presence of appreciation.

I am choosing to be here, and that choice is recognized and noted.

How much of my life is improved simply because my efforts are now relevant?

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Winter Homecomings

I spent the past eleven days in California.

Direct sunlight is a mood-enhancer.

Sweater-weather is a delight.

But I was glad to be back.

So glad, in fact, that I didn't balk when our flight arrived at 1 a.m., instead of midnight, after approximately 18 hours of travel through four different airports.

And I was pleasantly calm despite the discovery that I had left my lights on, causing my battery to be dead and requiring us to attempt to recoup sleep in the car while waiting the 2 hours for the battery-jumper to arrive.

It's the air here.

It simply suppresses irritation at things beyond control.

Today's theory is that the air here is so crisp, so pristine, that it serves as an ever-present reminder of the value of quality: quality of life, of friends, of boyfriends, of roots, of dreams, of the stuggle to maintain one's slice of utopia when lucky enough to find it.