Week Five: NOW

(That means, by the way, that it's week four of the semester. How has it gone so fast?)

This week: two round-trips by train. All the time sitting in traffic last week got to me. Plus, the time riding the bike along the East River bike path at one end, and along quiet NJ streets at the other, and getting work done in between, makes taking the train as often as possible a no-brainer.

How long can it go on? Who knows? It's not just last winter's mystery illness; the chronic asthma means that when I come down with a cold, I'm almost always in for a few weeks of bronchitis, which brings activity to a grinding halt.

Still trying not to think about that part. Trying not to think about the classes I can't teach and the meetings I can't attend when that happens, trying not to think about all the slack my colleagues and The Mate end up picking up while I'm lying around catching my breath.

Trying to focus on NOW. NOW, I can ride, I can walk, I can do my work, I can walk The Pet at the end of the day, I can teach my classes, I can run out to the bodega for bananas, I can walk The Offspring to school.

When -- If -- I have to make adjustments to what I can do, I'll cope with that THEN. And I'll try to do so without the guilt.