Helllloooooooo! It's been a while and I'm back at it. Yesterday, I was complaining about the drains of early morning-get-out-the-door, back-to-school, back-to-life, back-to-reality. Then I got a call from Dan telling me Discovery was in lockdown because a crazy man was wielding a gun in the lobby. As things were unfolding, he would call or send a text of his whereabouts. Then a shocker - he told me they were going up to the top floor. I was immediately transported back to 9/11 in NYC. (Sadly, the people who went up never came down.) While Dan was "Mr. Calm", I was a bit histrionic, relaying the news from CNN - "The terrorist has explosives on his back. Get out of that building!" You know the rest of the story and when I picked up my hubby/lover/buddy/best friend at the Metro, I hugged him tighter than ever before.
Sure puts my disgruntled morning diddy in perspective. Maybe it's not appropriate to mention a longing for the meandering summer we experienced after what happened. However, I've been showing signs of PTF - post travel funk. PTF* is a low-grade irritability after a trip, voyage, or prolonged vacation (i.e., Summer). Symptoms include the inability to unpack or put away laundry, reapplication of sunscreen throughout the day, longing to get to the beach early even though you are hours away from the coast, or a tendency to pick up the phone and ask for reception. If any of these traits apply, here are some exercises to help. Wear your bathing suit under your clothes all day. Or, imagine where you would like to go on your next fantasy trip and research it. Try pretending that chefs are arriving at your house to prepare dinner and when it is time to eat, go to a restaurant. Pack your luggage for an exotic vacation to determine what you are missing, and go shopping for those items.
Today when I woke up, I was incredibly grateful for the normalcy of the hustle-bustle-get-out-the-door routine. Then I reapplied some sunscreen.
* The Gist magazine, August 2010, Eric Weiner @ worldhum.com
