I'm Back

I hope I am posting before my blog readers give up entirely. It took me until yesterday to turn the corner on my recovery. I am still having ear pain issues, despite a thorough check and clean out by the Doc, but mentally I am feeling like I can resume life again. My trip recovery was compounded by some hefty difficult deadlines on work projects and I was putting in some very, very long days. I think now I can start to find some humor in life again, which is much better to write about than a self pity party.

This last weekend I got to help Lola celebrate her entry into the 50's. I rode with Andrea and Jim down to the Klug compound, near Brush Prairie. The party was in the "Man Cave," a wonderful converted barn on the property. The party was complete with catered food, a generous bartender and a DJ that played great dancing music. Lola has always been an incredible dancer, and it looks like turning 50 is not going to slow her down. There must have been close to a hundred people there. Some I haven't seen since her 40th birthday. It's strange but out of all those people there I felt like the only single. If I wasn't, there at least were less than a handful. Dancing didn't require a partner and Jim and Jerry were also nice to dance with me. But, like the trip to Sudan, it's strange (and maybe a little uncomfortable) to be around so many married people, or strange to be around so few singles. And that's my own issue: people were very friendly. It's just something that I have become keenly aware of. It feels a little like being a loser :( I know that the statistics say that there are lots of single people out there, maybe even more than married, but, depending on who you hang out with, the experience can be lopsided.

Andy was home for the weekend but I only got to see him for a bit on Saturday before I took off for Lola's. He is in a happy place at school right now: classes going well; getting involved in the campus radio station; making new friends. One of the sayings that has rung true for me is "A mother can only be as happy as her saddest child." So it's nice for me that he is currently in a good place.

Now that I am coming back to reality I need to address the house. For an economic measure I discontinued the housekeeping service, and my energy level has been so low that I have only found enough energy to crawl into bed when I get home. Let's just say that the house is not fit for company. My bedroom looks like it did when I was in High School! Piles of clothes everywhere. The kitchen isn't too bad. Only because I haven't tried to cook anything. But there are stacks of paper work and I still haven't put away everything from the trip. I need to start chipping away at it. I'll try to squeeze in some writing and posting in between. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

-J