Today would be a far better April day. It is damp, cloudy and cold. The morning has been slow. I hadn’t the incentive or the energy to do anything. The house was cold. I was cold. I didn’t turn on the heat. It is May. I sit fine but getting up is painful. I banged my cut thumb. I yelped. It hurt. I keep finding mice. I think there is a never ending supply under the bed in Jack’s room. Yesterday I vacuumed the whole downstairs and swept the kitchen. It was exhausting.

I’m thinking I should stop listing my ills and my complaints. I figure you’ve already figured out my mood. It perfectly matches the day. I even screamed a couple of times. Nala cocked her head, looked at me and wagged her tail, her way of telling me she cares. Henry watched with what I think was a look of concern.

I have no real heavy chores for today. I’m going to clean the silver utensils on the butcher’s block, maybe a silly task but one I can do sitting down and can see the end result, the beauty of the old silver filagree. I’m going to change my bed and take a shower.

The sun is breaking through the clouds. I decided to turn on the heat. I had no reason other than inviting misery to stay cold. I had another cup of coffee and toast with fig jam. I have decided to turn around the day.

When I first finished training and went to live at my school in Ghana, it was quite the transition. I had lost the friends I had made and the comfort of a shared experience. We all gone our separate ways. I was living alone for the first time. I did not teach well. I spoke too quickly with an American accent. I was lonely. I wrote letters describing my life, all I was seeing, the wonder of Ghana and how every day was amazing. I stayed away from how I was feeling only because I didn’t want to stress out my parents. I then started to write letters about how I really felt, but I tore them up when I was finished. They gave me a release. I started to figure out teaching. I got good at it. I got busy. I loved waking up every morning to a new day.

Today Coffee is the letters I tore up. I already feel better. Thanks for listening, sort of listening!

This entry was posted on May 11, 2026 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.