I'm not dead yet

I am still alive, though very tired.

I love seeing new places and visiting relatives. However, airplane flight is hard on my fibromyalgia--even before the plane takes off, as it is pressurizing, I start to ache like a crazy woman, and the more I fight the urge to writhe and thrash around, the more I hurt.

Since all our flights had connections, I took off and landed eight times this month. That is enough flying for me for a LONG time.

Texas was interesting and hot. I will write about it tomorrow. Yeah, right. I will try to write about it at some point before I forget. The best part was eating Mexican food at Mi Tierra in San Antonio, under a true plethora of pinatas, served by a waitress who only spoke Spanish. The worst part was being stung by a jellyfish on my ankle, but the repulsive changing rooms at Schlitterbaun Water Park were a close second to bottom.

The company retreat was a blast, and we did lots of fun things. It was the best retreat yet, and we had a great room, a great view, great food, and great activities. The only drawback was the wedding that was there simultaneously with us and crowded us out of the pool at one point. But it was fun to watch their festivities from afar. The wild reception, surprisingly, was out of hearing range when we went to bed that night.

The main lodge building had a great wide-screen TV where outrageous community viewing of the Olympics could be done. Our company even bonded with a group from RIT (techie college students) over Michael Phelps races.

The trip to Minnesota to visit my parents was necessarily quiet because I was exhausted and my mom and dad are getting elderly and set in their ways. I just wanted to sleep and recover from my other trips, but I felt guilty because my mom was so nervous about preparing meals. I would have done the meals myself, but my mom is kind of OCD and needs everything done exactly a certain way, and it is rather difficult to help her without frustrating her. So I tried to help without getting in the way sometimes, and gave up and got out of the way other times. I spent one day just reading and resting all day--I read three chapters of The Pickwick Papers and took three naps in between. That felt SO GOOD.

I did not get the job teaching English, which, it turns out, is definitely for the best. I can only imagine the meltdown I would have had if I were just now getting home, only to try to do a year's worth of lesson plans to teach literature I have mostly forgotten, all in the next week before school starts. (And who would hire someone who writes sentences like that last one, anyway? Could I really even BE an English teacher???) I may have not gotten the job because I was not qualified, or because I was not around to be interviewed, or because the other applicant just plain came across better. At any rate, it is God's will, and I am happy to know that it is--I didn't even have to make a decision, so I received all the clarity that I had prayed for.