a vestige of thought...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Summer, a month in
All of a sudden I discover that I have been home an entire month! Amazing. I still feel like my summer is only beginning, yet a third of it is gone.
I've settled into a pretty good routine. I work at Chick-Fil-A for the first part of the day, usually 7 or so hours before 4:00. At 4:00, on most days, I leave work and drive to Batavia where I babysit for 3 or so hours for a tiny, five-week-old baby named Valerie. She is adorable, and my time at her house is probably what I look forward to most. Thursdays I am off from Chick-Fil-A, so I babysit longer. I come home in the evenings, usually around 8:45, and read or chat with my family before going to bed. I have a few other things going on from time to time, including a weekly college group at church, and a weekly girls' Bible study.
I miss my friends, particularly my roommate, tremendously, but I've found myself more content than expected in my time at home. My shifts at Chick-Fil-A, which once completely drained me, now seem to go by in the blink of an eye and only my slightly sore feet remind me that I had been there anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. Babysitting is actually incredibly relaxing, even when Valerie is grumpy. I spend a lot of time reading or writing or praying while the baby is sleeping or while I'm holding her. I always feel refreshed emotionally and spiritually when I get home, even if I'm physically tired.
I'm even managing to make good progress on my summer reading list. At the moment, I'm in the middle of three books: I read Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo (which I began three years ago and am determined to finish before the summer is out; I've got only 500 pages left) when I'm at home, Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis while I'm babysitting (because Les Mis is a bit difficult to hold open with one hand while carrying a baby in the other), and a chapter or two of my big Chronicles of Narnia book before bed.
That pretty much sums up my life for the past month (and probably for the next two months as well). If anything exciting happens, I'll let you know.
I've settled into a pretty good routine. I work at Chick-Fil-A for the first part of the day, usually 7 or so hours before 4:00. At 4:00, on most days, I leave work and drive to Batavia where I babysit for 3 or so hours for a tiny, five-week-old baby named Valerie. She is adorable, and my time at her house is probably what I look forward to most. Thursdays I am off from Chick-Fil-A, so I babysit longer. I come home in the evenings, usually around 8:45, and read or chat with my family before going to bed. I have a few other things going on from time to time, including a weekly college group at church, and a weekly girls' Bible study.
I miss my friends, particularly my roommate, tremendously, but I've found myself more content than expected in my time at home. My shifts at Chick-Fil-A, which once completely drained me, now seem to go by in the blink of an eye and only my slightly sore feet remind me that I had been there anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. Babysitting is actually incredibly relaxing, even when Valerie is grumpy. I spend a lot of time reading or writing or praying while the baby is sleeping or while I'm holding her. I always feel refreshed emotionally and spiritually when I get home, even if I'm physically tired.
I'm even managing to make good progress on my summer reading list. At the moment, I'm in the middle of three books: I read Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo (which I began three years ago and am determined to finish before the summer is out; I've got only 500 pages left) when I'm at home, Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis while I'm babysitting (because Les Mis is a bit difficult to hold open with one hand while carrying a baby in the other), and a chapter or two of my big Chronicles of Narnia book before bed.
That pretty much sums up my life for the past month (and probably for the next two months as well). If anything exciting happens, I'll let you know.
