a whole day off

Today, Sunday, September 14 is my first whole day off since....er...I actually had to go look at a calendar to get the answer...September 1. Yes, I haven't had a whole day off in 2 weeks. No WONDER I'm feeling all kablooey.

Last weekend M was in town and we worked all weekend at the house. The house that should have been sold this week. And wasn't. There were lots of projects that got accomplished in the last week including moving my washer & dryer to my apartment! YAY! Cleaning the house in preparation for whatever is next. Having the furnace "cleaned and serviced". Talking to lots of prospective tenants. Finding new tenants. Hacking at 4-6 foot tall weeds (somewhat satisfying, but not yet complete). And moving more stuff to my place. Sigh. There are still lots of things that need to be put away.

My apartment is discombobulated. There are boxes to be sorted through, there are things to put away, there are things to be thrown out...things and things and things. And today I finally got to put away some of the things. The big'n'tall filing cabinet that moved temporarily into my bedroom and out of the space for the washer and dryer is now in my spare room. Stuff that was piled in the spare room is back in order again. There are still boxes of stuff in my bedroom...so many boxes.

And in the middle of all this material STUFF in my life, I've had two weeks of emotional STUFF, too. Having M back in town for several days and spending time with him was really sweet. I know why we were together for 10 years. I know why I married him. I know I still have my stuff to figure out, and that is why I'm not in a relationship right now. One of the days he was here, we went to the ranch that has most of our herd and I got to see my kids (ok, my alpacas). And Angel had a new baby and she remembered me...I think. And I cried and cried seeing my babies. And I went to a memorial service for a friend's mother. And the ex-boyfriend and I are trying to be friends. And work has been mostly back-to-back 10 minute meetings with students in which I've laughed and been serious and cried and tried to be present with each person and what they've brought to the meetings.

And there's been interesting intellectual stuff in my life the last two weeks. I'm teaching myself Hindi and being very dedicated about spending time every day on this. I'm excited to have a new project, excited by how fast I seem to be picking up the written language (I can read a lot of words even if I don't understand the meaning yet). And och, I forget how learning something new also means getting tired and hungry...my brain is WORKING. And I've been offered a really interesting project at work...the President requested me for this. Me? Me! Wow...hard to say no. Still working out the details to see if it is even possible...will give more detail if this actually happens. And I'm taking on a new leadership role at my volunteer site (I'm on the Board of Directors for a local independent high school) where I am now (starting last week) the Chair of the Event Planning Committee. And yesterday at our all-day Board Retreat I volunteered to oversee the (re-)Accreditation process that is happening this year at the school.

In order to take on new stuff, there is stuff I have to let go. And I have to recharge. I have to have down-time to take care of me. So today is a whole day off. Wheee!