What's Jenn Been Doing?

• Making lists and making plans in preparation for my week-plus departure to Pennsylvania on Friday

• Loudly singing Live's "I Alone" in the car, which made a surprise appearance on the radio
  

• Working my ass off covering shifts, including 8 hours on Saturday and a shift until 10 tonight. . . did I mention that I am still working my regular office hours?

• Catching up on communications: making phone calls to my mom and my sister, mailing a card to my grandmother, answering e-mails that have sat too long in my inbox, sending a letter to my friend in the Peace Corps

• Wishing I had not neglected to apply sunscreen while at the Botanical Garden's Japanese Festival on Monday

• Tearing my way through the last 150 pages of prep

• Gently battling my cat for butt room on my desk chair as she sits behind me and presses her feet against me
  

• Spending the day visiting a friend and his two small children and wondering how anyone can possibly have the energy to be a parent

• Getting whiny about the persistence of summer, and daydreaming about the first crisp day of fall (and of apple cider, and of Halloween, and of orange leaves, and of sweaters, and. . . )
  

• Making plans for an anniversary trip to Chicago in October and a Christmas trip to Georgia, both of which are part of my plan to use every minute of vacation time available to me
  

• Noticing that, when I'm out with Dan and he's holding my hand, he lifts and tugs it in the tiniest way whenever there is a bumpy spot, or a step, or uneven ground. . . and feeling immeasurable gratitude for such a caring man in my life

• Working hard to keep things in perspective as I feel overwhelmed with work, life decisions, and the inevitable stress that comes with all the things you have to do before you leave for vacation, and all the things that will be waiting for you when you get back. Telling myself to resurrect the itty bitty part of me that is able to say, "Screw it, it's just [a report, a dirty floor, an unwashed shirt, an unanswered e-mail] and the world will not come crashing down if I do not attend to it this instant."

• Taking a moment to sit, alone in the dark, with nothing but the rising and falling of my torso as I breathe in. . . breathe out. Making a note to myself: this is something I should do more often.