Slow Return to Normalcy

Usually by this time (10 p.m.) on Sunday night I'm not quite dreading the work week in front of me, but I'm at least trying to store up some adrenaline for it. Having run on adrenaline and only about 2 hours sleep per night for 5 staight days last week, my energy supply is lower than that of Nashville's clean water.

So it's a good thing that this week I'm actually looking forward to a Monday, for a change. I have a brutally busy schedule with about 3 things due that I had budgeted to start on last week but didn't get to. I was actually scared to attempt any important legal work due to the frazzled stupor in which I spent last week, so there's a lot on my desk.

I can't say I'm looking forward to any particular task in front of me, so much as just returning back to a normal work day-- one that doesn't include calls to FEMA, the rescheduling of unreliable contractors or frenzied callls from loved ones upon hearing the lastest image on TV.

As the workweek begins, life is slowly returning back to normal for those fortunate Nashvillians who still have a place to call home and an office in which to work. The media is always quick to measure each disater of this type in dollars, but I think the most difficult part of something like this isn't financial at all. The worst part is that it throws you, without warning, into an entirely different and unrecognizable life. A life where you have to find reasons to get out of your house because it's too hot to stay inside; one where you cut out any sweat-producing activity because you can't take a shower; where you can't make evening plans because you are waiting on a contractor; where every guest in your house is someone who will leave requiring payment for their services. The worst part is the break from normalcy, which serves as a constant reminder that your life isn't the life you'd come to know.

I often find myself getting bored when my life falls into a predictable rut. But at the moment, nothing thrills my soul more than the idea of a day of utter predictability. Even if that day is a Monday.