Dearest Rachel –
I set my alarm early today, as I usually do nowadays for Saturday mornings, so that I don’t miss the men’s Bible study. It’s not something that you could have related to, but when you were here, that wasn’t one of my priorities anyway. In any event, I probably should mention that I didn’t adjust for the fact that I had taken a shower yesterday afternoon (since I had just worked out for the first time since leaving for Japan), so I really didn’t need as much time this morning as I’d budgeted for myself to get ready for the day. As a result, I’m sitting here, dressed and ready to go about an hour before I really need to be.
This extra expanse of time would seem to be the perfect opportunity to work on telling you about last night, but I’m not entirely sure it’s my story to tell. After all, it’s not like the topic of conversation wasn’t something I’ve already discussed with you while we were over there (and I’ve more than touched on this very fact with you just the other day, just to add an extra recursive layer to what would otherwise be today’s – or rather, yesterday’s – story).
Still, while it might not offer any particularly compelling fodder for me to relate to you, I was looking forward to having the girls over. Time and distance apart have a tendency to cause one of two opposing effects to interpersonal relationships, each of which has been immortalized in proverb and cliché. There is the one that speaks of being “out of sight, out of mind,” in which case, this was a welcome opportunity to get back into their orbit and vice versa. And should “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” there’s nothing like getting together, face-to-face, and pouring cold water on that ardor through a solid reality check.
And it’s not as if just preparing for the evening itself didn’t involve a few unusual activities worthy of commentary – at least, most of them were things I hadn’t done in a while. I basically took the afternoon off from ‘work’ (although, to be fair, this was and is not one of those unusual activities; feel free to laugh a little about that fact, if you so choose) in order to make sure that everything was more or less in order for the girls to come over. Once we’d come to an agreement about having pizza, as well as more or less deciding on certain additional particulars, such as ‘where from,’ and ‘what on,’ it was a simple (if moderately time-consuming) matter to order everything half baked, and bring it home to store it until such time as the girls would be on their way, thus guaranteeing that everything would be hot and ready when they got here. Lou’s was even kind enough to edge each of the pies in foil and leave them uncut, so as to make the baking process on my end clean and efficient. It meant that the crust was a little more moist, and less crisp than I generally prefer, but that’s how it’s gotta be.
Meanwhile, since ordering and pick up didn’t take nearly as much time as I thought it would, I inveigled Daniel into coming with me to do some grocery shopping – our first time since our return. After going through those tiny, crowded (both with people and goods) stores in Japan, neither of us could get over the incredible amount of wasted space in our local Meijer. But hey, this is America – space we’ve got plenty of, and so we take it up. It does mean our lives aren’t nearly as conducive to walking and other forms of manual transportation, but there you are. Indeed , we get more than enough walking around just by covering the distance from housewares to grocery. No stairs to climb, though.
So, to make up for that lack, I made another trip for the first time since going overseas; back to the gym. It wasn’t something I relished doing – which explains why it had been ten days since we’d gotten home before I darkened its doors – but it was a habit I needed to get back into. After having gone walking with Lars the day before (during which he rather dismissed my skipping out on the fitness center aboard the ship, pointing out that I got plenty of walking in while ashore. That’s true enough, but there are parts of me that need toning apart from my legs), it seemed necessary to resume the rest of my exercise regimen. Besides, it seemed as if Daniel was still trying to catch up with his own news feed, and while he was apologetic about being part of the impetus for it, I still needed to get out of the house to do what I intended to do; this way, I could do that, and not be too bothered about the fact that I was leaving him on his own for a while. Not as if this ever bothers me when I spend most of the day at the ‘office,’ though…
Be that as it may, I wound up with plenty of time to get in a routine hour of various exercises, come home, get showered and dressed, and still have plenty of time to hang around and wait for my cue to heat up the oven. Guess I shouldn’t have taken the entire afternoon off. Still, better to have too much than too little.
And with that having been said, I may just save what transpired for later, assuming I have more time and motivation later on. It may not be until tomorrow, or Monday, even. But after having come home, life is a series of slow news days, so you’ll understand if I drag things out a bit.
Anyway, in either event, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 