A Tiny Bit of Cachet and Shelf Life in Everyday Ramblings

The gorgeous Miss E. in all her thirteen year oldness. Glued to her iPad Mini.

My oldest sister (her grandmother) was sitting in a chair next to her knitting a loose weave scarf in a gold tone basically by feel. I have a photo of her and she is knitting with her eyes closed. Because of the swelling and degeneration going on for the first time since this whole problem with both her eyes started getting seriously worse last year, she cannot read. We are all hoping that this is temporary for now but there is a good chance it isn’t.

And of course there is all kinds of technology available to help with seriously impaired vision but she is not ready for that yet. At 69 she just plain wants her eyes back.

So grappling with that in her proud independent oh so American way she was a bit distant this visit. She did get her haircut while she was down here and it looked lovely and I know that cheered her up. Miss E. was very good with her, generally keeping up a running commentary of what she was looking at (I brought her the December issue of Paris Vogue) and what was going on.

We all have been dealing with a cold virus. The net result for me is just plain exhaustion. Christmas day I did get out for a walk and I read magazines and the better part of the first book in The Hunger Games series. I started it a few weeks ago even though I have had it for at least a year if not two. It is so dark, but then I got hooked on the story.

Miss E. had been to a party and the new movie last week so I earned a little cachet knowing who the main characters were.

This book is extremely well written. I admired the heck out of it the whole time I was cringing through the story. I get the appeal for young people too. Particularly when you consider when it was written and the influence the Iraq war had on us all. There is nothing extraneous, she sticks to the story and keeps you right smack in the middle of the (when you actually think about it) horrifying worldview. I finished it last night.

I am starting to teach the studio yoga classes in about 3 weeks. I have some set-up stuff to do, pricing and marketing and a way to process credit card payments. In the meantime the young woman that is taking over the studio from Olga and is teaching her weekday morning classes asked if I would sub for her two classes the week after next.

At first I am, like, umm, hello, I work a day job… and then I thought why couldn’t I teach those classes? I work from home in the morning and then I go teach, and then I come back, have lunch (and give Sammy his fluids) and then go into the office. It is a bit unusual but doable… and a great opportunity for me to meet and interact with the students that are already going to the studio.

So I asked my new boss. He was like, sure, go for it. So I am.

I’ll be nervous. But that just means I am human you know.

Saint New Guy can handle me being gone for part of the day. We all have decided (my family and I) to add the Saint to his name. It is because of him I am not going to work this weekend. We got enough done yesterday to make that happen. There is still lots to do and I am still behind, but way less behind.

We are rolling out a pilot of the project I have been working on for almost three years that came just a hair’s breadth from being canceled early this year in mid January. All eyes will be on me in a way I have never experienced in this job. Literally. They have reserved a big fancy training room for me.

Another thing to be nervous about.

Jewel is on holiday all next week! Even so when I walked into the office yesterday morning there was much chattering about after Christmas sales and it was like someone sucked the air out of the room. It went deadly silent. It was creepy. Saint New Guy looked at me questioningly. I just let it go. A few hours later they couldn’t resist temptation and started chatting a bit about how to get fake Christmas trees for 75% off and…

Lest I forget I work in a very very strange place.

In the meantime though I have the whole weekend off! With no obligations.

I am apparently tucked neatly on a shelf in Mr. Fine China’s mind. We’ve exchanged a few short cheerful emails this week. I am sure he is toast after the funeral. I am thinking about the past and the present and what is important to me at this point. At the minimum I believe I have regained an unusual friendship I thought was gone for good. And he knows lots and lots of people.

Some of whom may enjoy the benefits of a studio yoga class. :)