Safe Haven

Time: 10:37 am
Location: Vic and Barb's computer, in their dining room. (My computer is charging up right now. I can poach some unsecured wireless signal from their living room, but their living room doesn't have the right plug-in for my power cord.)
Consuming: My green tea with rose petals and cherries (from Meg) and a banana.
Activity: (Other than drinking a cup of tea) Washing all our towels and clothes that got wet.
Feeling: Calm, warm, dry, thankful.

When we got here yesterday, I first put away all of our things, and then I made myself a cup of tea. That's when I realised how tired I was. I'd been running on sheer adrenaline since the weekend. I was hardly sleeping more than my mother was. But now that I'm here and away from all the construction and the craziness, I can relax again. I'm glad that we're here this week. I feel safe and comfortable at this house. These are the friends who took me in and drove me around when I came here to find an apartment.

We're focusing on taking care of ourselves and letting ourselves rest now. I brought along a lot of comfort items: not just the teapot and Batman cape, but also our own bedding and my air purifier. Um, and the electric fondue pot, because the girls in this house love fondue.

When Barb helped me pack up my things, she asked if she'd be seeing me much, or if I would be really busy and at the University mostly. And I told her that I decided that I needed a break from all that work. Realistically, I can take a break. I'm done my coursework, and I have my proposed comps lists handed in to my profs, so that they can review and revise them. I have a few more books to add to one of my lists, and a bit of teaching to do in the next couple of weeks. Other than that? So what if I end up a little behind on my reading? I need a break and I'm allowed to take one.

And so I'll do the work that must get done (a bit of TA reading, finishing one book, some bibliographic searching at the university, some German translation). Other than that, I think I'm going to take a lot of walks, play with the dog who lives here, watch some Anne of Green Gables with Barb, read a fun book, eat some popcorn (I also brought my popper and some seasonings) and take care of myself.

Newsy portion: 1. Dad's strengthening! He was even off of his Bi-pap machine and eating regular food for a couple of hours yesterday. The doctors are expecting slow progress, and won't be letting him out of the hospital (regular ward now) any time soon, but that's just because they want to make sure he's good and strong when he gets out.

2. ...But my brother sprained his ankle. We're thankful that it's not broken, but he's on crutches and can't play soccer for 4-6 weeks. We're expecting plagues of locusts soon.

3. On the other hand, if we end up being homeless for two weeks, we can spend the second week housesitting a giant house that's down the street from here. It would be for a friend of this family, and she'll be gone from the 14th-21st, a.k.a. pretty much until we expect to be moving home. I'll still be a quick walk from the University (actually, even closer than we are right now), we'll have some space of our own, and we'll get out of this family's hair. Everybody wins!