Dearest Rachel –
Look, I realize that I’ve no justification for complaining about a tight schedule; the last couple of Holy Weeks have seen me not only on vacation, but abroad on cruises. I’ve taken it easy enough times already that I’ve absolutely no right to complain about diminishing down time. And while I might insist that this is more an observation than a complain per se, I know what it can sound like, so I might as well make an attempt to clear the air about this right now, before I get started.
With that out of the way, I’ve been noticing that, as I’ve been waking up every day this week and weighing myself (as I’ve been doing now for just shy of three years – I can’t believe this has been going on for so long already, while at the same time, you never saw me this into the process), that first moment of the day has been arriving a little bit later each day. Oh, I’m still waking up and sending “Lee” a little encouragement every morning between five and six, but I’m rolling over and heading back to sleep until first 6:15, then 6:30, 6:45, 7:00… well, you get the general idea.
Now, this isn’t a particularly crucial issue for me; it’s not like I have an actual job to go to or a boss to report to. But there are things that I want to go and get done every day – and others, like the gym, where it’s more a matter of ‘need’ than ‘want’ – and the diminishing amount of time in the morning is starting to cut into them. Part of the reason I’m telling you about this at all is because I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to write to you today, as well as trying to figure out what to tell you about today – I’ve got material for tomorrow and Sunday, of course (and I need to make progress on those today, as well), but I didn’t wake up with a lot of inspiration about today, other than this observation which could easily be interpreted as a complaint.
Because, as it’s Holy Weekend, I’m on duty throughout the entire span. Yesterday had Daniel and I at the folks an hour or so earlier than usual, so that I could head off to rehearsal for tonight. The situation was complicated further by the fact that Daniel had to drop me off (and pick me up three and a half hours later) because his car’s still being worked on – their supplier couldn’t get ahold of a wheel rim for a PT Cruiser, so Daniel had to find an order one to be sent to them from elsewhere. And while the rim arrived at the house this morning (and I gave him the car keys, so he could take it to the tire place to be installed onto the car) I’ve no idea whether the situation will be resolved by the end of today.
Not that I have until the end of the day to find out; our first service tonight is at three, so we need to be there a little after one or so in order to set up and make sure everything is running properly. I’m barely going to have sufficient time to work out, get dressed and have breakfast before then.
As a result, I’m foregoing any time at the office today; and since tomorrow I still have to put together my little dish for Easter dinner, I won’t be meeting the guys for the usual Bible study in the morning, either. Which is okay; on holidays such as this one, the ‘study’ will meet at a pancake house between campuses, and isn’t attended by anywhere near the usual number of fellows as the study itself tends to have. Nevertheless, I probably should let our leaders know I won’t be there ahead of time; as a rule, I show up even on those weekends, so this would otherwise be somewhat unexpected.
And, of course, there’s the thought that I won’t have time to put together sufficient thoughts for you, or be able to write them down such that you’ll be able to know and understand what’s going on. Which would be one thing if you and I could just talk face-to-face about the things we need to do during this day and the next (and so forth), but as writing is my only means of communication with you (and there’s no way that you can get in touch with me in return), and it takes time to put something like this together, I’m afraid you’re going to have to settle for some short shrift.
Then again, I’ve gotten this much written down for you in the moment, so I suppose I could call it good for now. I’ll need to get going at this point, though, so I’m just going to have to ask you to keep an eye on me – us, really, since I still need to rely on Daniel to get me around for the moment – and wish us both luck. We’re certainly going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 