All at Once

Why is it that we can go for days, weeks, months, maybe even whole years, without anything of note or particular excitement happening. And then without warning and without you even being aware of what exactly is happening around you, you are overloaded with things to do and problems to figure out. You're so overwhelmed that you can barely keep you head on straight, and every minute feels like you're struggling to keep your nose out of the water just enough that you can still breath. This is what the past two weeks have been, jam-packed with the very high highs and some considerable lows. So much so that about halfway through I checked out and my brain shut off. And I am only now starting to feel like myself again...FINAAAALLLYYY!!

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. It all really started with the beginning of Oktoberfest on Saturday the 18th. All at once, from out of nowhere, the city was oozing with dirndls, lederhosen, foreigners from all across the world and sure enough drunkards of all kinds. On that very same day, my dad and sister arrived, and my friend Erin and I made the latenight trek out to the airport to "collect them". Of course this little endeavour did not go so smoothly, which was to become a common thread linking a good half of all my endeavours over the last couple weeks., something that Marisa came to deem "The Brittany Factor". This factor ensures that nothing goes to plan, though this is probably due to the fact that there rarely is a plan.

Anywho, from that rocky start on, the following two weeks entailed showing my dad and sis, and later my aunt Jo and uncle Bob, around, one of my very best friends Jo moving away (back home to england to finish her restoration studies) and all the accompanying and necessary get-togethers, a group of friends visiting from Venice, Oktoberfest outings, my first bike breaking, and my second, brand-new bike being stolen, things going awry with the people that I love, fighting a continuous battle with lice (contracted not from the kids but from the hostel I stayed in in Venice), and all of this on top of my new schedule of picking up the kids. Most of the time, it wasn't so much time itself that was the issue but more so the mental and emotional toll that it was all taking on me. It was alot to worry about and alot to wrap my head around. All I wanted to do was go back to when things were calm and normal. All I wanted to do was have some time to process and think.

And luckily I soon did. You will be happy to know that things are pretty much back to normal. That my head is not so full these days. I am a bit sick, just had another visitor - my friend Lara came up from Venice on Tuesday and left Thursday -, and am preparing for my fast-approaching Fulbright Orientation in Roma, but things are more or less stable... well as much as they ever can be in everyday life.

And you know, after having written this entry, I think I know why it is that things have to happen all at once. The reasons, at least in my mind, are 1) to test you and teach you just how much you can handle, 2) to make you appreciate normalcy, and 3) because shit truely does happen, that's a part of life.

"God give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference."