And the upside is time...

After I posted last night, I received a great email from my future mother-in-law.  She lives far far away in the fabled Midwest.  There's something about a person's pure, heart-felt sympathy that makes is easier to peek your head up over the constantly rising water of worry and ennui.

After reading that email, I went through my day and tried to decide whether it had been a good one.  And I realized that this period in my life has allowed me to recapture things I didn't get to appreciate during my ridiculously busy life at the so-called "Harvard of the West".

Today, I woke up late.  My roomates are still in college, so the collective sleep schedule of the house skews toward "late to bed, late to rise".  This morning, I snuggled with my dog and ate breakfast with the anchors of NPR.  I decided to go grocery shopping, and walking out of my house, the day was cool and clear, and the crocuses were starting to break through the soil.  I saw the bus drive by when I was a block away, and I didn't even swear at it.  Because really...where did I have to be?

So I guess, what I'm trying to get at here, is that through the baseline of worry, there are breakthroughs of simple joy and clarity.  Sitting here, split pea soup on the stove (enough for more meals than I care to think about), and my cat on my lap, I'm almost glad for the opportunity to drop out of the rat race for just a little while.  To worry about just living, rather than getting ahead.