A Look At Early November

Sleep: I was a champion sleeper throughout part one of my life, the 'prior to' September 3, 2010 half; these years were a sleeping heyday of sorts. No noise or action--an ambulance wheeling my dad off to the hospital mid-night, trains running along their tracks in the backyard of a childhood friend on sleepover weekends, a neighbor vacuuming my bedroom pre-sunrise, my roommate studying, or social-networking, on her computer, in our shared bedroom with the lights shining and television blaring while I dozed off to sleep, catching a nap while lacing up my shoes for the run I never ran as people slammed the apartment door on their way to morning classes, ones unintentionally skipped on this tiresome Tuesday, or animals cooing from their crawls to make their presence known in the darkness--was loud enough to wake me from hibernation, night after night I 'aced' sleeping. This might be part of the reason losing my greatest talent has taken its toll on my mental and physical well being. I never, ever learned to function without sleep.

Two days into November, my alarm sounded at 7:15 am for an anticipated average Wednesday... except this was different, following 13 months and 28 days of horrible, terrible, no good, very bad sleep patterns, I awoke startled from my coma of peace. I was alive, well rested, energized--ready to take on the world. Though the sleeping has drastically improved with each month, until I felt this calmness lingering over me from sunrise to set, I realized this was a first. I had finally experienced the nature of sleep that was routine in my old life. The rest of the week was not quite as hot, but I will cling to this night of security with hope.

Dog-sitting: The human-sitting tasks have slowed for the week, but I still spent plenty of time with a few of the neighborhood pooches. The fall weather has been extra crispy this week after the weekend snowfall--throw in the sunshine with the breeze and walking dogs has been quite enjoyable.

Letters: My final scripted tales were mailed to the training class I entered Lesotho with on November 12, 2009. The motivation to write has dwindled recently, consequently this batch of letters was kept brief and open-ended. Ending this exchange is bittersweet, though, expectant seems an appropriate adjective to capture the mood too. I want, or am ready, to close this chapter of my book. Lesotho will always hold its own in my heart, but the thought of being a collective group on this side of the world is refreshing. I have no idea what their individual homecomings will entail... or how many of them I will reunite with. I do know--these people matter--each volunteer played a role in my story; they will be definite priorities in the new year.

14 Months: Thursday, November 3, marked 14 months since T.C.M.'s passing. And if you think I've stopped noticing the world is minus one, you have down right lost your mind. I came across this photo two nights ago, and it made me really happy.

T.C.M. has not made an appearance on the blog in quite sometime, though he's still quite vivid in my mind. There are periods of deep intractable sadness and anger, but more often, when I think of T.C.M., it's when raising a drink in cheers, in happy remembrance, or in form of music, songs that have become his songs. 

Job Hunting: Ongoing. Advised by many superiors I gave in--much to my chagrin--and joined, yet another, networking site: LinkedIn. Feel free to befriend me or network with me or do whatever people do on LinkedIn with or to me... or, better yet, just hand me a job(!!!). 

Regionals: C.A.H. and his teammates claimed the runner-up trophy at the Region II meet on Thursday. Watching these kids fly up hills over the thick un-mowed grass of the beautifully landscaped Northern Virginia at five minute mile pace is nothing short of inspiring. The crowd littered the course with chants and cheers of encouragement. My voice was hoarse from screaming, "You are awesome. You can. You will." at C.A.H. The sub-18 minute race was nerve-racking with the first place prize in sight, but after close tallies... the Raiders would come up short. Though, none of the hardware earning runners were complaining, medals pinned to their sweaty uniforms, the Raiders are one of four qualifying teams from Region II for the upcoming state meet. And coming from the most competitive (of four) region(s), winning state is not a far-fetched goal.

Frederick, Maryland: On a whim I went to the holiday open house at The Old Lucketts Store. The crowds left my shopping partners and I in a frenzy, so we headed out of town for Frederick, MD... where we squeezed in a bit more shopping before settling in at Acacia for an easy Friday lunch. This was my first time to Frederick, and I was a little shocked by the size; the town is much larger than I imagined. I will definitely have to go back, there's plenty of good vegetarian friendly eating, mixed in with 'vintage hip' shops. And when I return, I will bring my bike for a tour along the tree-lined streets, featuring quaint historic houses.

Clemson is sidelined with a bye this week; the Tigers should be thankful for the extra seven days to comprehend and dwell on the pitiful loss to the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech. There's still plenty of other reasons to enjoy your football Saturday. For one, at this house--nine pounds of kettle corn awaits me downstairs. For two, three, and four, Michigan, Michigan State, and Georgia.

There you have it, you're all caught up--you have no reason to call.