Dearest Rachel –
I’ll be honest; upon returning home from our trip, I was starting to think I was going to be able to transition seamlessly from Japan time to Central time. While Daniel nodded off in his recliner next to your side of the bed, I was more hungry than sleepy; enough so as to order pizza and head out to collect it (all the while marveling at the distance I had to go to get it, since I would probably have gone through at least one – and possibly two – neighborhoods back in Tokyo to get there. And technically, I was one town over, so that wasn’t that far wrong).
But before nine that same evening, after Daniel had woken up and joined Logan in the family room (almost as if they were picking up from wherever they left off before we flew out as if nothing had happened), I was starting to run out of steam. I bid the boys goodnight before Daniel had any ideas of returning to the bedroom to join me in watching… whatever it was that we might have felt the need to catch up on (and after a week and a half, there would be a lot, no doubt), because I didn’t think I had the energy to deal with it after all.
I was more right about that than I knew.
The night morning saw me waking up to a fairly sunlit room – setting aside the fact that, as ever, the shades were pulled down on most of the windows, as they always are; most of them are sufficiently translucent as to leave it obvious as to whether the sun is up and out or not. And with daylight savings time being in effect, that meant that it was that much later in the day than all that. But still, I was shocked to realize that I’d slept in until past eight o’clock in the morning.
Even more surprising to me is that, for the last three days straight, I’ve done pretty much the same thing. Oh, today I was up a few minutes before eight – and that after staying up with Daniel until nearly midnight, which even he commented on with a tinge of astonishment – but it was close enough. After making a habit of getting up in the wee hours of the morning – a practice exacerbated when we’re traveling – suddenly, here I was lying slugabed for decidedly more than the recommended eight hours a night for three days in a row.
This means, by the way, that I’ve already been running ‘late’ to the ‘office’ every day since getting back home. I’ve been showering every day, not to rinse off the sweat of a workout – because I haven’t had the time to engage in one – but to let the hot water work out the kinks in my back from sleeping in the same position all night. And here I assumed that I would sleep much more comfortably in my own bed than in some foreign hotel. Then again, there’s no question that I’m sleeping more soundly and solidly, I suppose.
You might also guess that this isn’t doing my weight any favors, and you’d be right, up to a point. I certainly haven’t lost any weight, despite eating like a local over there and walking miles every day, but at the same time, even without putting myself through my usual paces, I’ve still managed to (mostly) keep under the two-twenty-five line. This morning was a momentary exception, but you might guess that Mom would feed us boys well upon our return – even to the point of serving us a Japanese-style cheesecake that she picked up on a whim at the local specialty grocery shop she occasionally visits. She acknowledged that she wouldn’t have given it a second thought had it not been for the fact that we’d just been over there. Which is ironic, since we were rather looking forward to getting back to normal American food by the time we were about to head back, to be honest. Not that we begrudged her offerings, mind you – which is part of why, for a moment or two, I’d woken up this morning above the line I’d hoped not to cross.
Meanwhile, Daniel is dealing with the same lassitude that I am. Despite being so sluggish in getting started with the day, I’ve still managed to get out of the house before he’s even so much as woken up more often than not since our return. The only exception was yesterday, since he likes to take his bath before heading over to the folks’ for dinner; by the time I was up and out of the bedroom, he was nowhere to be seen, having already gone upstairs to run his bath. Other than that, he’s been asleep until past ten, as he’s had that much less need to get up and get going anywhere than I have.
At some point, I really have to get back to my routine of putting in a few treadmill miles before getting started on my day. Maybe it will be easier over the weekend, as the boys will be hanging out (and Logan won’t be as compelled to head off to bed so early as to get up for work), thereby allowing me to retire that much earlier. Either that, or I’m actually going to have to set an alarm in order to get to Bible study tomorrow.
In either case, honey, I’d appreciate it if you’d be willing to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 