Matt spent ten days here in the thick of a glorious heat wave. He arrived Friday night, and we spend Saturday hanging out on the patio with Sandy Owen, walking the RHE trails, and dipping our toes in the night-shrouded Pacific. After Father's Day brunch at home on Sunday, we drove to Balboa Island for salt-water taffy and frozen bananas. It was a brilliant blue day. During the week, I was lucky enough to have two-hour lunches at work, of which we took full advantage. The long summer evenings were sweet: sunset at the PV cliffs, dinner at the Red Onion, drinks and appetizers in Long Beach with Mel, and watching old Beatles episodes of the Ed Sullivan Show. It felt so great to not have homework to do. The last weekend, we took Highway 1 up to the Getty Villa, spent some time bumming around the cliffs past Malibu, and slept in Ventura. The next morning we continued north to Santa Barbara, where we stopped by the Mission, the long promenade of State Street shops, and Stearns Wharf. He left on Monday, so we're in for another long dry spell of Skype and Scrabulous.
After two weeks of actual teaching, I can say I love my job. It's tough, but genuinely rewarding and often very fun. I can't believe that only three months ago I was convinced I would never be able to find a job I didn't hate, and on my very first try I've scored a jackpot. Seriously, April feels like a full nine months ago. The life I'm living now is so much richer and more complete, and so many radical changes have unfolded since then, that the reality of the time frame seems impossible. How life's pendulum can swing from despair to ecstatic satisfaction! Once I let go of my graduate career, and acknowledged my underlying unhappiness, I began to recover my appreciation for life. But it wasn't until I began working that true joy began to bloom within me again in a rush of gratitude and excitement. The blank white page of the future no longer terrifies me; it is freedom. Life is short, and there are things to do.
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