Just the Two of Us

Dearest Rachel –

Ordinarily, upon waking up to darkness, assuming (as has been the case for the last couple of days since returning home) that’s it’s just an hour or two before I would normally get up of a Saturday, only to discover that it’s actually barely two in the morning, would be cause for me to roll over and catch a few more winks. This time around, however, I feel the need to start in on this letter, as I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to put it together otherwise.

You see, with Logan off to the MLP convention this weekend (Daniel has basically given the fandom up because their politics are in diametric opposition to his), it’s just the two of us around the house. As a result, there’s this unspoken belief on my part that I need to be with him throughout whatever time I don’t have outside commitments (such as today’s men’s Bible study – which will be going over a sermon I never sat and listened to, since we were in Israel at the time – and my work in the booth this evening), which will take me away from the opportunity to write you at any normal part of the day. So here I am, getting this at least started in the wee small hours, rather than trying to sleep while the world is still dark.

You might wonder why this would be so difficult under these circumstances; after all, haven’t the two of us been together 24/7 for the past couple of weeks straight now? And it isn’t as if I’ve been lax in contacting you all this time. Well, yes, but there was so much to write about while traveling – not to mention, little else to do on the many bus rides from site to site but write down my impressions of everything while we were in the midst of it all. There was plenty of material to put down, and a reasonable amount of time (especially in the morning, while we were putting ourselves together and riding out to one place or another) to assemble it.

That’s not the case when we’re home; the most interesting thing about yesterday’s activities is that I finally took advantage of the fact that the washing machine in the laundry room no longer has an agitator. You might recall a time when we spilled something on the comforter in our bedroom years ago, we actually had to take it to a laundromat to get it washed, because it wouldn’t fit in our washer at the time. That laundromat has long since been replaced by the dog grooming boutique, which you patronized for Chompers’ sake (which, to be fair, means that we got more use out of its current incarnation than its past one).

When I got it out of storage this morning, as part of my effort to change my bedding for the coming winter season (because Kris was in yesterday to clean the house, which meant I could enlist her help to fold the contour sheet I’d been sleeping on), it was pretty well dusty, and in need of a washing before use. So I did just that – along with several other loads, since we had yet to do anything else as part of the unpacking process – and it all worked out pretty well, apart from having to run two drying cycles to do the trick. An unusual activity, to be sure, but hardly gripping stuff to relate, you’ll agree.

Meanwhile, during that whole process, Daniel and I were on opposite sides of the bed, in our respective rocker recliners, catching up on various YouTube channels that we had not bothered with throughout the trip. Again, hardly edge-of-the-seat material. Not only that, but I can expect that the time I’m home with him today is probably going to be very much the same as yesterday. And while I’m more or less fine with that – we both enjoy this sort of mindless activity, just like the three of us used to – it’s difficult to write to you at the same time; I never learned how to multitask like you claimed to be able to do.

This means that I need to get started on this when he and I are not somehow together. Either I’m out of the house (during which time I’m doing other things, which also distract from contacting you), or he’s asleep, or watching some of his more political channels (which he’d been keeping up with, to a certain extent during the trip, to stay occupied while I was editing videos), which, if I recall, don’t put out the volume of content during the weekend.

So, since he’s at least trying to get to sleep at this hour (we actually crossed paths when I went to use the washroom upon initially waking up; not only is he trying to get himself back into Central Time mode like I’m not, but he’s also still dealing with that nagging cough), this will have to do, as far as filling you in on the day goes. Considering how far I’ve gotten on this at this point, I guess that wasn’t a bad idea after all.

On the other hand, I don’t want to occupy my mind with this to such an extent that I’m effectively up and about at this hour. If nothing else, by the time I’m done with my assignment in the booth, I’m probably going to be on the verge of collapse, and we can’t have that. It might help me with my efforts to try and fast for twenty-four hours this weekend – you don’t wanna know the reading I got when I stepped on the scale in the bathroom just now – but I really don’t need to be this far out of whack with the current time zone.

So I think I’ll wrap things up for now, and try to get myself some more shuteye for the time being, and post this to you when I wake up later. Keep an eye on me, honey, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.