Almost back to our regular programming..!
For everyone who has sent me comments or emails wishing me well after my last post, I wanted to offer my sincere thank you. All of your kind words are never unappreciated and are always noticed. My gratitude is unending to all of you strangers who take the time to leave me notes of encouragement.
Tonight is another night spent milking time for all it can offer as I try to see old friends in faraway cities, yet I am obviously exhausted in the process as today is pushing twenty one hours. My hotel is a well kept chain on the periphery of another large Canadian city and my window overlooks oil refineries that glisten with thousands of lights into the night, the machinations emitting hot steam and flame into the air.
Seeing the flame dance in my window, I feel more satisfied and less irate than before and the fan on my laptop breaks the silence as it emits a gentle hum. Nikki has been flooding my phone with sweetly worded text messages all day, and that somehow has made things much more bearable. I've started to get to know the group of people I'm sojourning with across this continent a little better as well, and I think we are starting to transcend the bounds of colleagues to friends, which is a welcome change.
Conditioning today was difficult but always worth it. My muscles ached and strained under the weight of my own limbs, and while practicing handstands I collapsed into my wooden blocks, splitting my lip open against my teeth. As they say, all the good tricks hurt.
Soon, I will delicately lift the comforter over my body, and ease it down on my form ensuring the bed stays well made. I will tuck the pillows in an L-shape as I always do and paint the picture in my mind that the pillow that I wrap my arms around is Nikki's waist. A full glass of water will sit beside me to annotate the two pints of local lager I consumed earlier in the night with some old friends, and I will blink my eyes slowly while forgetting to drink it before being placated by a gentle yet dominating slumber.
As for now, I just wanted to say to everyone that the worst part of the itinerary are nearly done, and I will be much less stressed soon. Thank you for all the words of encouragement as they have honestly let me know there are others thinking about me out there. I managed to fit in some much needed time with friends tonight, and two Epicurus quotes come to mind that offered me some solace during the tribulations today.
"You do not develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."
and, of course:
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die."
I think momentarily about what people would say if I were to expire tomorrow, and then the thought blasts out of my mind as quickly as it entered. I resolve now to live in the moment, for at least the next couple days. It seems that's going to be the best way to deal with them.
And don't worry, we'll be back to circus-y stuff tomorrow!
Tonight is another night spent milking time for all it can offer as I try to see old friends in faraway cities, yet I am obviously exhausted in the process as today is pushing twenty one hours. My hotel is a well kept chain on the periphery of another large Canadian city and my window overlooks oil refineries that glisten with thousands of lights into the night, the machinations emitting hot steam and flame into the air.
Seeing the flame dance in my window, I feel more satisfied and less irate than before and the fan on my laptop breaks the silence as it emits a gentle hum. Nikki has been flooding my phone with sweetly worded text messages all day, and that somehow has made things much more bearable. I've started to get to know the group of people I'm sojourning with across this continent a little better as well, and I think we are starting to transcend the bounds of colleagues to friends, which is a welcome change.
Conditioning today was difficult but always worth it. My muscles ached and strained under the weight of my own limbs, and while practicing handstands I collapsed into my wooden blocks, splitting my lip open against my teeth. As they say, all the good tricks hurt.
Soon, I will delicately lift the comforter over my body, and ease it down on my form ensuring the bed stays well made. I will tuck the pillows in an L-shape as I always do and paint the picture in my mind that the pillow that I wrap my arms around is Nikki's waist. A full glass of water will sit beside me to annotate the two pints of local lager I consumed earlier in the night with some old friends, and I will blink my eyes slowly while forgetting to drink it before being placated by a gentle yet dominating slumber.
As for now, I just wanted to say to everyone that the worst part of the itinerary are nearly done, and I will be much less stressed soon. Thank you for all the words of encouragement as they have honestly let me know there are others thinking about me out there. I managed to fit in some much needed time with friends tonight, and two Epicurus quotes come to mind that offered me some solace during the tribulations today.
"You do not develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."
and, of course:
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die."
I think momentarily about what people would say if I were to expire tomorrow, and then the thought blasts out of my mind as quickly as it entered. I resolve now to live in the moment, for at least the next couple days. It seems that's going to be the best way to deal with them.
And don't worry, we'll be back to circus-y stuff tomorrow!