Last week was rough around here. Kristi went back into the classroom, to be greeted by an overpacked crowd of 170 students. I had some client and business issues that weren’t particularly pleasant. We also had an assortment of side dramas, some minor and others not so minor, that just seemed to sap our energy by the day. It was a week of stress, misunderstandings, exhaustion, irritability and 108 degree days.
Friday night, we both needed some us time, unplugged. So we went out and had a nice romantic Greek dinner over at Pappapavlos. Then on Saturday, we went book shopping, coming back in time help Kristi’s father put up the new wraparound kitchen shelves he made for us recently; they’re beautiful, and suddenly we have a lot more desperately needed storage space in the kitchen. Other than that, we mainly spent the weekend hanging out, enjoying some quiet time together and trying to reconnect after a very tough and long week.
I’m very lucky to have a loving wife who has the perceptiveness and patience to say, okay, it’s time to take a break.
Getting back to life this morning, things are so much better than on Friday. For one, the temperature finally broke, giving us an almost cold night that let us both sleep like the dead. We’re both having a good day, Kristi in her classroom and me sitting here at home getting some writing done. The coffee’s strong this morning. I’m actually feeling alert and creative for a change, ready to tackle the half dozen writing projects languishing on my desk (including new entries here and on Less Urban, my other blog).
You know, some days I wonder why I didn’t just become a plumber. You have a bad week as a plumber, you can still go to work and tighten pipe and put in your hours. As a writer, the only bad-day options you really have are to either write out the mood, whine and complain, or go play video games. Or some combination of all three.
On a related note, I’m loving Resistance: Fall of Man. 🙂
Note to the gang in Florida. We’ve been watching Tropical Storm Fay from here, and we’re hoping and praying that she leaves you all relatively unscathed. I know she’s a little girl – projected to hit Tampa as a Cat 1, and to downgrade well back into Tropical Storm territory before reaching Orlando – but 60mph winds can still pack a punch. Take care of yourselves.