Summer Days

I'm a little slow on the draw when it comes to perceiving how I'm doing physically. If I were in a battle, I imagine I'd be the kind of soldier who just keeps fighting until a fellow soldier comes up and says, "Dude, you're totally bleeding out of a huge wound in the back of your head." And I'd say, "Oh, no wonder I'm feeling kind of tired and cold and things are starting to get blurry."

So it's no surprise that a few weeks into being back in China, it's just now dawning on me that I'm really, really tired. The average person would look at our lives and particularly the last few months and say, "Guai bu de!" which means "No wonder!" and which, when pronounced, comes out, "Gw-eye boo DUH." So really it works in either language.

It's also taken me this long to realize that we are on summer vacation (any attempts I was going to make at finishing the school year went about 2 days after I was feeling better from that cough). I am re-learning what it's like to sleep until I wake up (which, given that the sun comes up around 4, isn't ever past 5:30 or 6), and that I really do have 3 hours to just sit and read a book, especially when the kids are at someone else's house.

It's tempting to feel guilty about all this free time, particularly since my husband has to keep going to work every day. But I'm trying to fully recognize what a gift this time is and how much I need to be refreshed. And looking ahead at the next six months, I know I'm going to need all the physical and emotional strength I can get. So here's to lazy summer days!