The Long Journey Back
There was a nasty cold going around the ship. One of my friends in the Friends of Bill W. group had it the first week, and my wife, Kathy, caught it by the middle of the second week. It finally found me the day we were leaving the ship.
Traveling for 16 ½ hours with a nasty cold is not recommended, but that’s the kind of travel day we had coming back, from the time we left the ship until the time we got home.
We had a lot of good fortune and help making that journey with all of our luggage — 2 weeks worth of clothes makes for a lot of luggage — and Kathy needing the wheelchair assistance throughout the journey. We were fortunate to get upgrades to the Saga Class seats on Iceland Air, which is the equivalent of Business Class, so we at least had very comfortable accommodations for the long journey.
But the cold has been the kind that lingers, and keeps traveling to new places each day. Yesterday, it took up residence in my ears, and I can’t hear a thing out of my good ear, now. Fortunately, my normally problem ear is functioning a little better, and with the hearing aid in, I’m not completely deaf. But, it’s been very difficult hearing what people are saying all week.
The good news is, despite the cold and the 11 hours in the air coming back, I’ve had no signs of vertigo coming on, so I’m hanging onto that while I try to deal with this horrendous cold. I kind of have to go into work this week, as my deputy and both of my H.R. leaders are all out in Minneapolis, and there’s a lot going on that needs hands-on attention, so I’ve been going in each day. Yesterday, I cut my day short by about an hour and a half, leaving after the last meeting that I had to be there for. If needed, I’ll do the same, today.
It’s still all worth it. There’s nothing quite like a two-week vacation to give you a renewed persective on things, especially one where you have to completely be cut off from work the entire time. It forces you to focus on simply living, and being who you are, and not worrying about any of the work issues for that extended period of time. Coming back, you see everything in a much different light.
I’m realizing, this week, how much I really enjoy my job, and what I do. For a couple of months there, it was feeling like it was grinding me down. It’s all a matter of how one deals with the stresses of the job, and for me, one of the best ways to deal with it is to step back, and get away from it, periodically, so I can remember why I like it, and how I can manage the stress, better.
I’ve been getting a ton of sleep this week, between 8 and 10 hours each night, trying to give my body a chance to get over this cold. In my dreams, I have still been on a journey — some nights, I’m still tossing about on the high seas, with lots of drama swirling around me, but I think I was also on a train, one night. Not many other details have been retained from them, but in a way, it feels like that part of me that’s still trying to catch up with the rest of me. With the cold and all, I haven’t felt like I’m 100 % back, yet. I’m sure part of it is also my body readjusting to the time difference. For the most part, I’m just trying to ride it out, knowing, as they say in the rooms, that this too shall pass. I’ll eventually catch up with myself. In the meantime, there are the interesting dreams to look forward to!
