Is there anything as sweet as waking in your own bed? Last night, we whipped the flat sheet off the bed - and it was as fresh as when we left in December. We're home! We're home!
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
The quarantine officer releases us in Jakarta and we drive home to Bandung with great relief. All our C-19 tests - 2 in the States, 2 in Indonesia - have been negative. I had a bout of Covid last year; W suspects he did, too. So we're hoping that's bought us some immunity.
As I leaf back a year in my journals, I read that we had "a bad flu" starting in February. In March, W flew to the States for meetings; he was there when shutdowns began and was happy to fly home before Easter. I was really sick while he was away but had made a full recovery by early June. (Good thing I journal or I forget most of what's happened.)
The drive from Jakarta to Bandung is not as scary as usual due to lighter traffic. Our driver goes between 30 and 130 kmph (20-75 mph), depending if the road is empty or someone is doodling along in the fast lane. Heavy-laden trucks go 40kmph or slower on some parts of the freeway with hazard lights flashing - or not. Traffic somehow weaves around them.
With a sigh of happiness, we pull into the driveway after 3pm. I start unpacking as soon as we greet Melvina and walk in the door. (Melvi stayed at the house while we were gone.) We're not hungry, though Ibu Sumi has baked bread and pretzels because we ate a Big Mac at a rest stop along the freeway.
Everything is spotless - and I only yelp the first time a lizard dashes across the kitchen from under one cabinet to under the other. I don't like to share the house with wild animals. No roaches are in sight, and it looks like 10 mice were trapped while we were gone. I squish a half-dozen ants on the clean counters.
Before 6, our suitcases are empty and the spices, books, supplies, and clothing are put away. It will be nice to wake to an orderly home in the morning. I put away the clean laundry Ibu Sumi left on the sofa. By 7, we're asleep.
Thursday
We're awake at midnight, 2, and 4. I get up at 4 and sort my office, draw a long list of "must-dos" list, as well as a longer optimistic "wishful thinking" list for the weeks ahead. We eat on the porch and cut back vines that have grown too long, clip a few flowers from the garden (below), and start on the chore list.
Everything looks overgrown and healthy. The gardenia bush has 13 flowers, fragrant in the morning air. Someone has plucked 2 for a little vase on the table. They scent the house.
Oh oh, the dogs are a mess and our poodle looks like a wild thing. Her groomers promise to show up on Saturday.
We make a quick trip to the grocer - local black tea is still 40c per package. Good to live in tea country, though the quality of the cheap stuff isn't great.
Friday
Up at 4 again, I'm walking the streets just after 6. The sun's up, the wind is blowing, and it's cold enough for a raincoat. I tug my arms through the straps of my computer tote for improvised backpack. My first meeting is at 7, so it's carry or skip the walk. Carry. But ugh, first I have to get past clumps of 3" snails creeping up our gate. I leave a note for someone to salt them and get rid of them.
W is not walking. His lower back is in such pain that he ends up in the emergency room, checking if he has kidney stones. No, say the docs, just a muscle spasm. I hear that the closest men get to labor pains are the pains of kidney stones.
"If men were the ones having kids," says my mom, "we would have had one child in the world. Period." Makes me laugh.
We get good news and bad news today to balance life and prayers between thanksgiving and petitions to God. Speaking of balance, see the guy in the blue shift, working on narrow planks far above the ground? He's building a roof for a new shop on the next block. Guess he's not afraid of heights - or falling.
Our assistant helps out at the office for a few hours. What a relief. She saves me hours of work by finding some files. A few edits and they should be good to go.
The office is quiet. There's one fish left after our time away but the water is getting clearer as I scoop out the algae.
Between FocusMate work hours, I make fresh cups of tea and pedal as fast as I can on the elliptical bike. The weeks away have made my 5-lb dumbbells heavier and the pedals harder to push. Luckily I gained only 2 lbs on this trip instead of the usual 5 from high-calorie American food.
DrW drops off chocolate mochi made by her niece. Ok, not going to lose any weight with those! Delicious.
It's nice to have both helpers working together. They make a big lunch and clean upstairs thoroughly in preparation for Melvi's shift to another room next week.
I write a new devotional for a group request, schedule a few New Normal posts, and get home before the usual rainstorms around suppertime. The wind starts to kick up as I walk home.
Read more:
*Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:5-8 NIV
*The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
*For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:5
Moravian Prayer: Loving Lord, we look to you with thanksgiving as we rejoice in the knowledge that you are there to heal us in our wounded and broken ways. Lord, may we take comfort in knowing that you are our salvation, saved by your grace. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
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