September 6, 2016

Back At It

It’s 10:00pm and I am in Shanghai on the tail-end of my six hour layover. I’ve watched two movies, had coffee, juice, a muffin and some fruit. The Pudong airport is an embarrassment as large city airports go. There is nothing to do here. Nowhere to get a decent meal or a drink. The lighting is hard and fluorescent and there is a quiet dreary fog that lingers over everything and everyone. I am a short five hour flight from home and I’m already excited about landing in Singapore, heading home, taking a shower and starting my teaching day….on Tuesday. Wow. Tuesday already.


Too soon to predict what that is going to look like, but I’m sure it will be fine. It is crazy what our minds and bodies can do when we put them to the test. All this travel reminds me of the double shifts and night classes back in my college restaurant days. I would work twelve hour days and party and study and run my life like it didn’t have a purpose, but in the end, no matter how late I stayed up or how early I had to wake, I made it work, so this little jaunt across the Pacific will be no different. Sure I am twenty years older and the body handles abuse in different ways, but I will survive.


The difference these days, I guess, is that there is a purpose, or at least a direction. The school year has just begun and it is time to get back to it. I miss my own kids and the brief Skype chat earlier reminded me how vivacious and full of life they are. Looking forward to a skate session this week. Signing up for the half-marathon in December and finally getting back into my routine of running. It has been too long and my body is in for a rude reminder.


After a death and a celebration of life, we owe it to those who have passed to live even more fully. Take advantage of each day as it passes. No matter how cliche it might seem, we are here if for no other reason, than to enjoy life and live it with tenacity and purpose. Even though, I currently feel like a flat tire, I am looking forward to pumping myself up, after a few solid 10 hour sleep sessions, and moving forward to whatever uncertain future will have me.


I cannot post this update right now because I am in China and the Internet is blocked, but I’ll get it up on the webz before I head off to work in a few hours. The daily writing doesn’t stop because of air travel or blocked Internet.


The words are blurry and screen is bright The mood is low and the air filled with fatigued, but we are here and alive, breathing, so the show must go on.


Author's note- 6:07 am at home, getting ready for breakfast, showers and school. Here goes nothing.

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