Hit the Ground Running

Team, the Brians are back in business.

Last week, for example, Will returned to his research group meetings, started physical therapy for his recent knee injury, received his TA assignments, and selflessly juggled (literally) most of the cooking and cleaning. Why the sudden swap to housewifery? Because I was sick on Monday, worked Tuesday-Thursday, hosted two dinners, met one new friend and one old for coffee(s), started and studied for two new Bible Studies, had a doctor's appointment, and felt like a bad friend for all of the other friend-y requests I had to say "no" to in the span of five days.

Can we Skype? No.
Can we meet up on Saturday? No.
Can we have tea this week? No.

All lovely offers from equally lovely people, mind you, but I was feeling a wee bit overwhelmed and congested, probably due to my lack of sleep and the recent chilly temperatures.

Sidenote: have I mentioned it's a cool 54˚ outside today? Yes, fall has arrived. Can you document the fall foliage on this blog? No! Yes. Eventually.

Back to my ramblings. My crazy schedule and my body's protests and my lack of snuggling with Willis were turning me into a rather crabby person when, flipping through old Oxford pictures in search of who-knows-what, I came across the pictures from our first month here.

Ah yes! You mean that time when you blogged weekly, Skyped every other day, hiked through the English countryside, drank tea at your leisure and generally had new adventures to retell to your readers?

Not exactly.

Not as glamorous as you thought, eh?

I mean that time when I didn't have enough friends (or dishes) to host two dinner parties in one week. Or a job to provide us with the money for that much food. Or a strong connection to a church that would enable me to be involved with two Bible studies. Team, this rather unflattering picture of myself was a reminder to me that, in all of this week's business, I am doing life here. The Caitlin in that picture was hoping and praying for a week like this. And she'll be very unhappy with me if I don't enjoy it to the fullest. So no. No fall foliage pictures or stories of hikes (see second paragraph where Will hurt his knee). But maybe next week. :)



P.S. In searching through those old photos I found this. There are no words.