Monday, September 29, 2014

A Gushing Apology Over a Cup of Coffee


The joy of meeting and the sorrow of separation … we 
should welcome these gifts … with our whole soul, and experience to the full, and with the same gratitude, all the sweetness or bitterness as the case may be. Meeting and separation are two forms of friendship that contain the same good, in the one case through pleasure and in the other through sorrow… Soon there will be distance between us. Let us love this distance which is wholly woven of friendship, for those who do not love each other are not separated.
Simone Weil in a letter to her friend Joseph-Marie Perrin, quoted in Perrin’s Simone Weil As We Knew Her




I have been woefully neglect of my blogging duties, and I beg your forgiveness and understanding.  Educating 7, 8, and 9 grade year kiddos is in full tilt, and often my head is akin to one holding to the safety bar with hopes that the carnival ride will end soon or at least slow down.  I certainly do not mean to imply that I am unhappy or even nauseous from the duties that come with my career choice.  I only aim to paint my apology with a feverish brush that begs your indulgence.

The will to learn and teach has swept me up as I find myself quite happy at the moment.  I have found myself surrounded by adept, caring colleagues and empathetic friends on the weekends.  But I have also felt the all too familiar pangs of being homesick and the profound sense of loss that comes with being far away from loved ones and the like.  As I have done for most of my life, I have found purpose and companionship in Dostoevsky, Camus, Shelley, and others.

As for daily life and the grinding of espresso beans in the morning that helps the aforementioned, I reiterate that I am quite content.  For lunch today in fact, I had coffee with a friend.  A friend that I would never have found if I hadn't answered a Skype call and boarded a plane for a new continent.  And to call him this, as I hope he would reciprocate, is all the pleasure one needs in life.  And I extend the same cup of coffee to you and hope you will patiently wait for a more practical installment with lots of pictures of interesting architecture, friends, and delicious food.  

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