Day 98, morning
Today is day 98. I do not drink.
Yesterday was a great day of doing very little. It was real nice, relaxing.
My dryer broke a couple weeks ago and the earliest appt I could get for repair was tomorrow. I'd reached the end of my clean clothes, so I washed some and then hung them out on my newly restrung clothes line. I've used the clothes line in the past for dog beds/blankets, sleeping bags, comforters...that sort of thing. It involved taking one blanket out and throwing it over the line and then going and getting before dark.
What I discovered yesterday was that to go out, basket of clothes held against one hip and hang a whole load of laundry was surprisingly enjoyable. I mean, really enjoyable. You have the softness of the breeze, the warmth of the sun offset by the coolness of the wet clothes in your hands or when hung, as the coolness brushes against a bare arm, open sky, a couple hawks high overhead, the stillness of herons hunting in the field, chick chick around my feet making soft mutterings, dog lying alert nearby waiting looking out over the fields, then as each item is hung, a heaviness the wind with ease lifts and lets go and lifts and lets go. Later you go out and the dry sheets billow and luff. The shirts sway and fill. You move in and out of that motion unpinning one here and another there placing in your basket plowed fields, the sun and the wind. Who’d have known? Not me.
I've added a new long term goal, and that is to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The level tests are given twice a year in the US. Once in Seattle and the other time I believe is in San Francisco. It is just to do it with no other long term goal mixed in at this point. The idea behind it is to give me an incentive to continue my study of Japanese. I really enjoy languages and learning Japanese has just been something for my brain outside of work, something fun, something challenging. See what happens.
My two Japanese students have opted out of the cultural exchange program for fall. It is their last term before they return to Japan in December. They are in the university town where I was working earlier in the year. Now that I'm closer to home, I may look into picking up a couple students here at this university. I also let the program director know that even if I found something closer to home, I still may want to participate in both programs. Leave my options open.
Today is day 98. I am committed to making a life change. I do not drink. My drinking tipping point is changing, weighed at this moment ever so slightly away from drinking. I am the tree, not the leaves. I am the mountain. It is day 98, two days from 100, and I am solid.
Yesterday was a great day of doing very little. It was real nice, relaxing.
My dryer broke a couple weeks ago and the earliest appt I could get for repair was tomorrow. I'd reached the end of my clean clothes, so I washed some and then hung them out on my newly restrung clothes line. I've used the clothes line in the past for dog beds/blankets, sleeping bags, comforters...that sort of thing. It involved taking one blanket out and throwing it over the line and then going and getting before dark.
What I discovered yesterday was that to go out, basket of clothes held against one hip and hang a whole load of laundry was surprisingly enjoyable. I mean, really enjoyable. You have the softness of the breeze, the warmth of the sun offset by the coolness of the wet clothes in your hands or when hung, as the coolness brushes against a bare arm, open sky, a couple hawks high overhead, the stillness of herons hunting in the field, chick chick around my feet making soft mutterings, dog lying alert nearby waiting looking out over the fields, then as each item is hung, a heaviness the wind with ease lifts and lets go and lifts and lets go. Later you go out and the dry sheets billow and luff. The shirts sway and fill. You move in and out of that motion unpinning one here and another there placing in your basket plowed fields, the sun and the wind. Who’d have known? Not me.
I've added a new long term goal, and that is to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The level tests are given twice a year in the US. Once in Seattle and the other time I believe is in San Francisco. It is just to do it with no other long term goal mixed in at this point. The idea behind it is to give me an incentive to continue my study of Japanese. I really enjoy languages and learning Japanese has just been something for my brain outside of work, something fun, something challenging. See what happens.
My two Japanese students have opted out of the cultural exchange program for fall. It is their last term before they return to Japan in December. They are in the university town where I was working earlier in the year. Now that I'm closer to home, I may look into picking up a couple students here at this university. I also let the program director know that even if I found something closer to home, I still may want to participate in both programs. Leave my options open.
Today is day 98. I am committed to making a life change. I do not drink. My drinking tipping point is changing, weighed at this moment ever so slightly away from drinking. I am the tree, not the leaves. I am the mountain. It is day 98, two days from 100, and I am solid.
Replies
You are such an inspiration. I simply love your descriptions of things in wonderment. You help me so much seeing the beauty in life through your words and eyes...Thank You so very much.