Today is two months. Two months since I arrived. It’s not actually two months because I was in Sweden for a week immediately after I arrived but in the long march to forever, it’s two months.
I’ve settled into a routine of sorts. I swim on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I attend Danish Language School on Tuesday and Thursdays. On Sundays, I call my 95 year old mom. It feels like a full schedule given my responsibility to prepare meals for my wife and take care of the apartment. Is this my permanent schedule? Hmm. First, I’m not sure what permanent is. And, I’m not much for schedules. I managed to avoid other people’s routines for over 30 years. The longest I’ve ever worked for someone else, and was forced to operate on their schedule, was my nine-year stint teaching at The Art Institute of Philadelphia. Miss the interaction with students but not the schedule.
So, between the “events” of my new life, I write this blog, I read, I go for walks. It’s not a lot. Though after the insanity of the first nine months of this year, perhaps it’s enough. Certainly it is for now.
Here, the day is short and shrinking rapidly. The sun rose at 7:52 today and will set at 3:55pm. At my three month anniversary the sun will rise at 8:35 and set at 3:37. Seven hours and 1 minute of daylight should the sun decide to bless us with an appearance. Another reason to not be on a schedule. Going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark is hard.
Philadelphia will be enjoying its normal nine hours and twenty minutes of daylight and there’s a high probability the sun will shine. Let’s leave aside the fact that it’s likely to be much colder in Philadelphia and there could be snow. I enjoyed hearing that it snowed last week in Philadelphia and New York especially because I didn’t have to shovel it. That’s one fact of life I’m pleased to avoid here.
However, the darkness no one can avoid. You can only escape it. I need a plan.
