The Shortest Day

I love the winter solstice because it means that the days are going to start getting longer instead of shorter.

For short days, this week has been really long. On Wednesday, I had the final performance for the 7th grade residency of wallet-stealing fame, and it went surprisingly well. I had about six kids out of the 17 in the class who were really committed and excited- they wrote all their own material and rehearsed in extra sessions after school and brought in costumes for their scenes. One of these kids was someone who had been giving me grief all semester and it was extremely gratifying to get to praise him for really doing a fantastic job. I'm still a little unresolved about only having 6 out of 17 kids perform, but the ones who did really rocked it. I think that next semester the drama elective is going to need to have an audition or an application or a contract or something. Not to discern talent, by any means, but certainly to weed out those kids who are just signing up for the social hour and easy A.

Bright and early the next morning....wait, no, scratch that. It was dark and early. The alarm went off at 3:50am EST and we were in Oregon by 9:57am PST. The day was followed with lots of cuddling of my most specialist niece (don't worry- LOTS of pictures to follow), coffee with a colleague, dinner with family, drinks and trivia with friends, and some half-jet-lagged-half-buzzed midnight ramblings about how great NYC is before I finally passed out 24 hours after getting up. This wouldn't be so bad except that my sinus-unpleasantness has developed into some straight-up-unhappiness and I've been sniffling and popping my ears nonstop for a couple days. I swear that if I ever get a full 8 hours of sleep I will magically be better.

I have left the great Land of Ports for now, however, and journeyed into the desert to my parents' house for the next week. There will surely be many anecdotes to come. This house is madness, but it is beautiful.

I feel called to mention that the passing of this winter solstice also marks six years that ZPJ and I have been together. Which seems like a long time. But also like maybe not that long considering we've got another fifty to go. Do you remember that time? Back when I told him, in no uncertain terms, that we would NEVER be together and then had to eat my words when I realized he was the only person I wanted to be with? Remember when it all happened? I knew before we even kissed that once we did, we would be getting married. And here it all is, so many years later, and it seems a little silly that we ever disagreed. Of course, now we disagree about much more serious things, like bank accounts, and what movie to watch, and who won the last cribbage game.

So, in conclusion:

• I love Christmas
• I love ZPJ
• I love when the days start getting longer again