Things Remembered – Day 1 – I’ll take ten please…

I’ve always loved markets, but I tend to hate shopping.  Give me a set price and I’ll buy what I have to, but put me in a place where I can barter and haggle and I’ll spend all of my money in the pursuit of getting the most deals.

No one needs a pair of fake fancy sunglasses, but tell me they cost 80RM in a market in Malaysia and I’ll name my price (20 RM), walk away, and be thrilled when eventually they meet me where I started.  True story…the sunglasses won’t last but the story I will wear with a smile for quite some time.

My favorite shopping experiences will always be from the open-air markets of Kenya. There was that one time that several of us from my dorm senior year convinced someone to take us to Toi Market in Nairobi to do some back-to-school second hand shopping.  We wandered those stalls and went through piles of clothes to find things that would add something new-to-us to our wardrobe rotations.  I was so proud of the bags of clothes that I came home with that day, all for a wonderfully small amount of money (something like $10US). The memories of bartering and trying things on in sketchy, market stall, curtained off areas isn’t one that I’ll forget anytime soon.

Or that other time on a Friday during a trip to Kenya in 2007 where I was determined to expand my earring collection at Maasai Market.  “1 for 250KSH,” they told me.  I scoffed and walked away.  They stopped me, saying, “Sister, what is your price?” “Eh, me I am thinking 50 for 1.”  They laughed, raised their eyebrows, and knew that I was there ready to play the game; ready to play my part in the exciting and delicate dance that bartering can be. “Eh brother, me I have an idea. What if I buy 10 and give you 500?” They smiled, told me to pick out what I wanted, and it was a deal.  Victory never looked so good in my earring collection.

Of course, there have been many failures mixed in over the years and my need for trinkets from my travels continues to decline.  My purchases tend to be more about one magnet for my fridge these days, and one magnet is not so easy to haggle over.

But if you’re ever in the area, and you want to make my day, let me be your personal shopping buddy.  It’s so much easier to haggle and shop when the spending isn’t burning a hole in my own pocket!

Things Remembered - Introduction

Apparently people write a lot in November.  I have never been one of those people, and by no means am I trying to write a novel, but I'd like to write more and a 30 day challenge seems like a good way to start.

Side-note: I'm in the midst of a 30-school-day earring challenge.  I'm pretty sure today is basically day 1000 (it's day 20), but I've made it this far and I'm determined to see it through.  Hopefully the last 10 days don't do me in...

Anywho, November is a month where people write and I'm going to be one of those people this year.

The goal is to write between 400 and 500 words each day in November, telling stories from my life (past and present). Some will entertain.  Some will not.  All will be as accurate as they can be when they are based on my perspective and less-than-fantastic memory.

Enjoy :)

Oh Singleness...

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing something on singleness for a while.

What’s stopped me?  Well, here are the thoughts that I have going through my head every time I want to write but don’t:

1 – Writing something on singleness, putting the words to page, seems like an announcement of singleness.  It doesn’t define me, it’s just a part of who I am…but will other people see me as a would-be poster child for singleness if they read my words about it?  I certainly hope not!  (In other words, please don’t put my name in Urban Dictionary as a synonym for ‘single.’  K thanks.)

2 – I am not an expert, although I certainly have experience.  Do I really have a right to share?  Do I want to share?  Please don’t make me share…

3 – It’s a painful topic for some, a badge of honor for others, and a great big question mark for the rest…although there are probably 500,000,000 other ways to look at it as well.  It’s highly personal, it’s highly painful, and I don’t like showing/sharing pain with the world.  I don’t like needing support.  I hate when I can’t be self-sufficient. I hate when I’m not enough.  Hello life, the name’s Bekah.  What’s that? Another slap across the face?  Don’t worry…I’m awake now…

So here I go…

My name’s Bekah and I’m single.  There have been three seasons in my life (well more like fifteen if you count good guy friends starting in the 8th grade that I thought/hoped might transpire into more, but that’s another set of stories for another time) where I thought my singleness might be nearing an end.  None of those relationships lasted long and I’m the one that bolted when things got tough.

My counselor tells me that’s something to think about.

So, of course, I try my best not to acknowledge or face it.  Me = Picture of Mental Stability (said no one ever).

Anyways, I digress.

My name’s Bekah and I’m single.  At the age of 32, I’ve gotten to be fairly good at being single.  I know how to make a meal that lasts all week (but even the best recipe is redundant by day 4), I’m completely comfortable traveling alone, “Table for 1, please” doesn’t scare me so much anymore, and I’m not afraid of hiring someone to do maintenance around my house.

I own a tool kit, manage my own finances (well…that is a work in progress…), order myself back to school gifts, and unashamedly buy myself flowers when I’ve had a bad day.

If you want to read what twenty-six-year-old Bekah thought about her singleness, here’s one from the archives.  Read it with a grain of salt.  Twenty-six-year-old Bekah, bless her heart, had some big lessons to learn.  Thirty-two-year-old Bekah still does.

Let me be honest and transparent for a moment…

I would love to be married someday.  I would love to have a husband and kids and in-laws and fights about where to spend Christmas.  My ‘plan’ was never to be 32 and single. 

But here I am.

And sometimes it stinks.

Let me wallow for just a moment...

It stinks on days when I just want to be around someone to debrief the day with and there’s no one there.

It stinks that, as a leader in a school, I have no one that is completely safe for me to vent to.  Married people have a spouse that they share everything with…the good the bad and the ugly.  If I tell family about my woes, they might try to solve them.  If I tell friends back home, they tell me it’s time to move. And telling coworkers is a no-go for a plethora of obvious reasons.  So, there are many a day where I go home, sit on my couch, and stare at the wall…trying to think through what I need to do to make amends for a wrong I’ve done or reasoning how I need to change my communication style to better fit the needs of my staff.

It stinks when I have big decisions on the horizon (as anyone living overseas…or anywhere really…so often does) and while people can give me input, at the end of the day it’s just me who has to decide and then carry out that decision.

It stinks when I think about 10 years from now and where I’ll be.  I am the only constant in those plans…well, me and Jesus. :)

It stinks when I reflect on the boundaries that I’ve had to put in place to be a healthy single woman in community…and it also stinks that those boundaries are oh so necessary.

So ya, I wallow.

I get sad.

I have bad days where being single bothers me.

But there are good days too.

In the interest of making this post semi useful to someone else rather than just a rant as I finish up my dinner (alone in a favorite restaurant…go single me!), I’d like to leave you with five thoughts that help me get through this solo life I live in community overseas.  Take them or leave them. :)

1 – Find family.

Sure, traditional family involves genetic or legal connections, but you can choose people to invest in who eventually become family.  Family is pivotal for survival for me.  Having friends with kids has been a key to having a place to unwind and pour into people that I love outside of school.  Can this be hard?  Oh yes, but for me it is why I am on year 8 in a city not my own.

Be warned – families leave. Families make decisions that are based on what’s best for their family and not on what’s best for you.  That’s okay…that’s right…that’s necessary.  They don’t leave because they want to get away from you or because you did something wrong.  They leave because it’s their time to leave.  The delight eventually can come again in relationships that last past just sharing a location.

I’ve had more families than I can count leave since I came to Chengdu.  More families than I can count that I dearly love and miss every day.  I miss those kiddos whose diapers I changed and homework I helped with and whose tears made puddles on my shoulders.  I miss those couples who became like siblings to me and who opened up their home and their family to me.  Huge chunks of my heart are elsewhere with those families that I adore.

Even as I write this, tears are streaming down my cheeks as I allow myself to mourn those families that I have “lost.”

But they are still family.  And you should find some. It’s worth it.  Open up your heart to them…you’ll be glad you did!

2 – Set Boundaries.

I’ve struggled with this aspect of singleness.  As a young twenty-something, I saw it as men’s responsibility to guard their relationships and had no qualms about being friends with a male coworker but not necessarily enjoying the company/friendship of his wife.

And as a young twenty-something, I didn’t understand why a few coworkers’ wives really seemed to detest me.  Their husbands were great.  We worked together, enjoyed chatting about random aspects of school or random other topics, and were amazing teammates.  But then on Sundays or around town when I would say hi to their wives, a look of what seemed to me like hatred would come across their faces.  I would take that as a cue not to pursue friendship and eventually would convince myself that they were just one of those opposites attracts kind of couples.

But then I realized something.  I was spending hours each day at work with their husbands, having fun and getting things done, becoming friends, making investments…and their wives were hearing about it at home.  I was THAT girl.  The fun young blonde at work who brought laughter into the job again.

I was THAT girl.

And I’m so not that girl.

So now I have rules for myself.  If I work closely with a married man, I pursue friendship with his wife.  If his wife and I aren’t all that compatible, I keep pursuing. I get to know their kids and offer to babysit so they can have time together as a couple.  And you know what happens?  I generally end up being friends with the whole family (see point 1).

And what a blessing those families are.

But if I work with a man closely and don’t have opportunities to get to know his wife, I am a different coworker.  I don’t ask questions beyond what I need to know for the job we’re working on.  I don’t let inside jokes become a thing.  I don’t talk about me.

Maybe that seems a little cold…but I refuse to be THAT girl ever again.

So, figure out what boundaries you need…and remember you are responsible for your boundaries…don’t put the blame on anyone else.  And be smart. You are human, and so is everyone else.

3 – Find your rhythm.

Just because you don’t have kids at home doesn’t mean you should be working late every night and all day every Saturday.

You need time with friends.  You need time to invest in families.  You need time to watch an entire season of a show on Netflix.  (That last one isn’t a need.  Turn off Netflix and get a book...says the girl who watched an entire season of the Great British Bake-off on Saturday...)

And you’ll have to figure out what works for you.  It won’t necessarily be what works for me.

For a few years, I was taking classes online and working full time while I pursued my Master’s degree and then an Educational Specialist degree.  For a year or so, I would do everything last minute and then my Sunday afternoons became catch up time for my left til the last-minute homework. (For a deeper understanding of my procrastinating brain, this is an excellent Ted Talk which I adore!) 

For the last two years of my studies, I would make Saturdays my homework days.  I would go to my favorite coffee shop, claim a table, work all day, and then head home knowing that I was done and nothing was lingering.  Sundays then became a day of rest.

But rest doesn’t look the same for everyone.

For me, rest was a video-chat with my former roommate in the morning, followed by fellowship, lunch/afternoon festivities with one family, and then dinner with another family.

I would tell my friends about how I spent my Sundays and they would give me a pained expression and tell me that I was crazy.

But I loved those Sundays.  They renewed me in a way that nothing else had for a long while.

Find your rhythm, and then don’t forget to change it up if it’s time for a change.

4 – Don’t be afraid.

Don’t be afraid of the label of “single.”  It’s not a projection of some major failure in your life or personality.  It’s just a part of a much bigger whole that is you.

Don’t be afraid of other people’s expectations of your life, and definitely don’t let those unmet expectations impact your successes and joys and goals and dreams.

Don’t be afraid of saying no to things that don’t fill you up that you feel like you “should” do because you “have the time.”

Don’t be afraid of trying something that you’re not sure you’ll be good at.  You never know until you try.

Don’t be afraid of falling in love and realizing that it’s not a good fit.

Don’t be afraid of putting yourself out there online.  You’ll find some gems to talk to…and maybe Mr. Right.  So far, I’ve found a whole lot of Mr. Not Right’s and one Mr. If Only…and I’m thankful for the conversations and connections that I’ve made even if I’m still somewhat hopelessly single.

Don’t be afraid of your singleness being a disappointment to your parents.  They love you.  They will always love you.  And they just want you to be happy and cared for.  They want to know that when they’re gone you’ll be okay. Don’t get frustrated by their hopes for you…but don’t be afraid of forging your own path and inviting them to be a part of the adventure.

Don’t be afraid of friends who want to set you up.  Go on those dates.  Meet those guys.  Or at least tell your friends that you’re open to it…you never know what unexpected blessings (or amazing stories of dates gone wrong) that might come your way.

Don’t be afraid of a few tears in a restaurant while you write a list of don’t be afraids. (Still here…still writing…still in the zone and now needing to rehydrate.)

5 – Enjoy this season.

I don’t know if my years as a single are coming to an end anytime soon or if they’re only just beginning, but I don’t intend to let sorrow or frustration define me.

I intend to enjoy the season that I’m in.  To acknowledge pains and frustrations, but not to let them become the seeds of bitterness.

I intend to celebrate my successes and growth and failures.

I intend to have great guy friends and great couple friends and great family friends.

I intend to be the best friend that I can be to the people that I am blessed to have in my life.

I intend to be me. The joyful, over-caffeinated Bekah that people around me seem to enjoy for the most part, or at least tolerate…

I intend to travel and explore and live every day of this journey of life with gratitude for the freedom that it has given me to do the things that I’ve done so far along the way.

And I intend to be open to whatever may be around the next bend on this crazy journey of life.

And with that, I need to stop writing. Thank you for wandering around with me in my random thought processes on this far too long post.

Side-note: I didn't plan to have two posts with lists of 5 back to back, but maybe that's my new thing? We'll see...

What about you?  What has been helpful advice on singleness that you’ve received that maybe I (or others) need to hear?  Would love to hear from you!

I've added a picture of part of my view so that something other than a pencil shows up when I share this post.  It's the little things!

Five things I learned about myself this week...

As per usual, it's been a while since I blogged.  A long while.

And I could write to catch you up on the last year in the life, but I'm not going to.  I'm just going to talk about this week.

I have a new job.  For the last three years, I've been serving in the role of Middle School Principal.  My life has revolved around the world of 11-15 year olds, dealing with the ups and downs of 6th graders starting this great big adventure outside of elementary school, helping 8th graders understand the ups and downs of leadership before they're on the bottom of the totem pole again, and helping teachers and parents understand that 7th grade is basically the terrible twos of middle school, but when you're 2 you don't remember life before it and when you're in 7th grade everyone expects you to have your act together.  It was an energetic and draining and life lightening job and I loved [almost] every minute of it.

And now, I'm Secondary Principal.  My world has expanded from 6th-8th graders to 6th-12th graders.  In middle school, we set schedules for the kids...in high school they choose their classes and change their classes and want to talk about choosing and changing their classes.  Its busier and college decisions are looming on the horizon and life as they know it is nearing an end as they prepare for the next adventure.

So, all that said, my world is a bit different now.  Here are five things I've learned about myself this week, now that I've survived it!

1 - I can get it done.  I may be exhausted and weary and confused 90% of the time about what happened 5 minutes ago, but once I get focused the world is my oyster and mankind are my brethren, 'cuz I can make it happen. Sometimes making it happen comes at the expense of my own sanity and health (food isn't actually essential, right?), but when push comes to shove and the rubber meets the road, I will do whatever it takes to get it done if it's something that needs to get done.  The upside of this: I get things done. The downside of this: I get things done.  Need to get better at delegating, I think...

2 - I need sleep.  On nights this week where I got a solid 7-9 hours, the next day was a delight (relatively speaking) and joy/smiles were constant(ish). On Friday, after only getting 5-6 hours of sleep (and only having a milkshake for dinner, but that's a different story for a different day), I was dead in the water.  I felt like I was about to fall asleep every time I sat down and I had a hard time seeing the silver linings of clouds.  Sure, I got things done and figured it out, but I'd much rather have a baseline of smiles/optimism while getting it done.  So if you see me online or at school after 8 pm, tell me to go to bed...I'll thank you later after I roll my eyes and complain about not needing the care/concern. :)

3 - I love the children.  Like totally adore and want to do whatever it takes to help them succeed.  If you've been around me in a school setting, you probably already know this about me, but I think I needed a reminder.  In the back of my head, I've always thought that I wouldn't be effective with high schoolers.  This week I proved myself wrong. And on top of that, these once kiddos who are ready to face the world head-on are amazing and deep and thoughtful and kind.  They respond so well when they know the intentions behind the rule...and they don't push back out of spite or angst but out of frustration or lack of understanding.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every conversation I've had with every high schooler this week.  I honestly didn't know that that would be where my heart/mind were at this year...but once again the Father knows me so much better than I know myself.  Ask me in a week if I still feel this way.  (Spoiler alert: I will!)

4 - I love teachers.  Now if you ask me at the end of a long day where I haven't communicated well if I love teachers, I might hesitate, but I really do love them and appreciate them and respect them for the different people that they are and ways that they impact the future and our students through what they do in their classrooms.  This week has been filled with a lot of conversations and questions and guidance...and it can be draining when I feel like I'm barely keeping my own head above water...but I am sooooooooooooo thankful for the staff that I work with.  They make me want to be a better leader so that they have more capacity to do what they've been called to do.

5 - I never appreciated my leadership enough as a teacher. "If I knew then what I know now..." I'd always have a list written up of questions/things to talk about when I visited my principal, but I'd also not worry about taking too much of their time when they ask me to sit down and just chat.  The work questions are important, but the relationship is key.  I don't know how they all did it...balancing the intensity of their jobs and still making me feel important and worthy and necessary.  I want to be a leader like that, and I'm so lucky to have had AMAZING examples of this in my divisional principals throughout my teaching career (I'm looking at you Josh and Gloria!).  Now I'm not writing this because my staff aren't appreciative...they are and I've been so incredibly blessed this week by the prayers and encouragements and conversations.  I'm writing this because I don't know that I ever did enough as a teacher to truly show my gratitude...because until entering into this new job this week I didn't realize how much they were juggling.  They did it so gracefully and fluidly.  I hope that I can be a leader like that when I grow up.

Okay enough blogging and verbally (well, typidly...is that a word yet?) processing for one morning.  Time to get organized and head to my favorite coffee shop so I can get caught up on emails.  Having an inbox with 0 notifications or flags is the goal.  Wish me luck!



Ooooo heres a picture of our school staff (elementary, secondary, office staff, etc) from the first day of school.  Our theme this year is "choose joy." and in all these colorful shirts I don't know how you could do anything but smile :)

Anthems these days...

I wrote this back in November of 2018 and never posted it.  Going to go ahead and do that now while I'm thinking about it! 


As some of you know, I have a bit of an addictive personality.

If you don't know this about me, let's just talk about some supporting facts, shall we?

A - I love coffee.  I need coffee.  Coffee fuels me.  I gave it up once...it wasn't pleasant for anyone around and I will support my community by maintaining this addiction. (Since writing this post a few weeks ago, I've got down to one cup of coffee a day.  I know, I'm worried about what's wrong with me, too!)

B - I don't just watch an episode of a show on Netflix.  I watch until I am either asleep, my computer battery dies, or the internet stops working well.  Or the show ends (I'm talking series finale...not season...)

C - 3 words: The. Greatest. Showman.  Saw it seven times in theaters, like that crazy girl I met on the train when I was twelve who saw Titanic 12 times in theaters.  I thought that anyone who saw a movie more than once in theaters was insane.  Fast-forward twenty years and I'm the insane one.


Anyway, addictive personality...that's me.

A month or so ago, one of my close friends here and I discovered the Mean Girls on Broadway soundtrack.  If we lived anywhere in semi-close proximity to NYC we would have already gone and seen it, but in lieu of that possibility, I've been listening to it on repeat when I'm on buses getting between places in the 'Du.  I occasionally belt the songs out because some of them are just so good.


For example, there's "Stupid With Love."

Oh how I can relate and how I love it. 

But that's not what got me writing today.  The song that really got me thinking was "I'd Rather Be Me," the anthem that the character Janis sings presumably when the girls are getting their grievances with each other out in the open after the release of the burn book.  I haven't seen the show so I don't actually know.

While I'm not a fan of what Janis is calling other girls to do in action ("So raise your right finger and solemnly swear, Whatever they say about me - I don't care"), I'm all about the argument behind her words as a whole. Check out the lyrics here.

Some of the one- or two-liners from the lyrics are so spot on for how we act or should act in girl world:

• "I won't twist in knots to join your game, I will say you make me mad, And if you treat me bad, I'll say 'you're bad'"
• "So I will not act all innocent, I won't fake apologise, Let's just fight and then make up not tell these lies. Let's call our damage even, Clean the slate so it's like new"
• "And when they drag you down like they inevitably do, I will not laugh along with them and approve their palace coup cause that's not me"
• "I don't need their good opinions, I have plenty of opinions, Everybody has opinions but that doesn't make them true, What's true is being me, And I'd rather be me, I'd rather be me than be with you"

For some reason, this song ties directly in my mind to "This is Me," a favorite song from The Greatest Showman (which we've already determined to have a soft spot in my heart). This video is from the green-light sessions of the movie, which are powerful and emotional and my favorite.

Here are the lyrics to the song.  

The chorus to the song is so powerful:

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down

I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out

I am brave, I am bruised

I am who I'm meant to be, this is me

Look out 'cause here I come

And I'm marching on to the beat I drum

I'm not scared to be seen I make no apologies, this is me

Both "This is Me" and "I'd Rather Be Me" have such powerful messages, but they both have another side (no pun intended for you Greatest Showman fans who know of my love of yet another song).

I would rather be me, and I'm not ashamed of who I am, but where is the acceptance of the fact that we aren't perfect, that there are things that we need to work on and growth that needs to occur?  If these are the messages that we're shouting (or rather singing) from the rooftops, is there another layer that we need to be keeping in mind?

If anyone knows the anthem that combines these two with cooperating with the world around you, hearing what they have to say and listening from a place of love, let me know!

Sunday Ponderings

It is interesting how themes emerge in our thinking over periods of time, whether years of pondering a certain topic or days of giving yourself margin for thoughts.  I’ve been reminded over this past week of break (from both school and routine in general) of the uniqueness of each person that I pass, whether it is someone unknown or someone known, someone old or someone young.  We each have a story.  We each have steps that took us to that place at that time.  We each have understandings and expectations and wonderings that uniquely combine to make us, well, us.

As I walked into my building this afternoon after a quick trip to the grocery store on my way home from fellowship, I found myself entering at the same time as one of the cleaning ladies for my apartment complex.  She’s about half my height (and a slightly smaller percentage of my weight, but we won’t go there) and I would assume twice my age, with a smile that gives me an immense desire to speak the same language and hear her stories.  I hustled a bit ahead of her, not for my usual contest of who gets to push the button first (because of course I still act six and a half at times), but to open the door for her.  What was supposed to be a kind gesture turned into a bit of a show down of who was the kindest, with her insisting that I go and me insisting that she goes and both of us laughing in the doorway unsure of who would win our little contest.  She won.

As I rode up to my 27^th floor apartment, my mind started going a million miles a minute to analyze what just happened.  Why does what I see as such a simple act so often turn into a fun little banter here, and why can’t I approach everything with that same lightness and joy?  Why can’t I be that person more often, just enjoying the moment and the interactions rather than focused on the task.

The message this morning at fellowship was on 1 Peter 3:1-7…submission.  “Wives submit to your husbands…” Oh how I dreaded what would come.  I thought about sitting on my couch instead of going, giving myself a bit of control over the message that I would hear.  Maybe that one message on singleness that someone recommended a few weeks ago would be better? Or what about listening to something from my home fellowship for a change?  But no, I went and I didn’t attempt to throw my shoe (which is a good sign).

It was a good message overall with great advice for wives and husbands, I’m sure, but where does that leave me?  Can I take this message and apply it to me?  I walked away with three overarching questions: who should I submit to, how do I (or maybe should I?) model submission as a single, and what does this mean for the greater body?  I don’t have answers…just questions for now.  I think that’s okay, but is it really just for husbands and wives, or is there more to it?

I’ve heard this passage used as a call to marriage and a set of instructions for within marriage, but what is the Father trying to teach me in it?  It certainly inspires ideas of more qualifications to add to my “Mr. Right List”, but is there more?  The Mary & Martha passage is easy to apply…why isn’t this?

And then, as I often try to avoid doing, I started thinking about my thinking on the topic.  I dreaded todays messages.  Dreaded it.  Didn’t want to go, avoid at all costs, dreaded it.  Why? Because I don’t want to hear advice for others…I want it to apply to me.  I want it to fit my needs.  I want it to be the lesson I need to hear.

But life isn’t all about me.  The world doesn’t revolve around me.  The message doesn’t have to always fit my needs. Holding the door open for the cleaning lady doesn’t mean that she’s going to accept it…

…and that’s something to smile about, isn’t it?

Happy Sunday, friends.

Ohhhh hey there routine…

Do you ever have sudden moments of realization that make everything make sense?  Okay, by everything I mean just random things, but still, you know what I mean (maybe).

I’m flying again.  Another 11+ hour flight across an ocean.  I realize that to some people this would be something amazing.  Crossing an ocean, going from one place to a place totally different.  This past summer I met someone who has never been on a plane.  What an interesting life she leads...shocked by how nonchalant I am about flying. For me, it’s normal.  I’ve been doing this since before I could walk or talk.  Heck, I did it before I was born, as both the metaphorical and literal twinkle in my father’s eye…if you can literally be a twinkle in your fathers’ eye.  I digress…

Last time I flew across the pond (a month ago…), I had a row to myself and I slept 8+ hours.  That is not my norm for flying.  Usually I’m restless, crochet, watch a lot of TV, and drift in and out of various states of awake-ness.

Today is a normal flying day for me.  Watch a movie, take a sleeping pill, have a quick nap while listening to a podcast, wake up remembering that last time you tried to take a sleeping pill on a flight it backfired, turn on a soundtrack that you like, fall asleep again for twenty minutes, turn on another movie, crochet, realize that you have to take out thirty minutes of crocheting because you were one stitch off and it will drive you crazy if you don't remedy it immediately, take another nap, watch another movie, and DS al Coda because you sure as heck aren’t going to take another sleeping pill.

As I waited in line for the bathroom, wishing they’d tell everyone to sit down so I could be the first one to pop up and snag prime bathroom time (because, hey, might as well make this a game/competition of some sort), I got to thinking.  Minus the sleeping pill and being in an aluminum tube full of strangers, this is like a normal Saturday don’t leave the apartment day for Bekah Teusink.  I wake up, make coffee, move to the couch, turn on a movie, fall asleep, make breakfast, remember that I haven’t had any coffee yet, put coffee in the microwave, fall asleep before I drink the coffee, realize that I didn’t turn on a movie but instead it’s a Netflix show that is automatically going on to more and more episodes, drink cold coffee, fall asleep, and repeat to some degree.

My normal Saturday avoid people routine is basically the same as my flying routine.

We could get into the chicken or the egg argument and try to figure out if I spend my Saturdays that way because of how I fly or vice versa, but let’s not.  I’m just happy to have cracked one of the mysteries of me.  I’ve always loved to fly…I’ve only recently (last 6 years or so…that’s recent, right?) discovered how much I like being a hermitess from time to time.

Mind blown?  Mine was.  Time for a nap.

But first...sunrise :)