TheBanyanTree: The Deep Freeze

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Well, it's a deep freeze for this morning.  My thermometer registered 0.9
degrees this morning.  We were a little colder in early December, but then
we had a string of incredibly warm almost spring-like days.  We still don't
have much snow, however, so it's just a deep freeze, not a white deep
freeze.

I'm settling in after being in Bismarck, ND for a few days.  I'm an
extremely homebound person, so it takes a lot out of me to go somewhere and
then reacquaint myself with home again.

It was warm in Bismarck, but we arrived amidst 50 mph winds howling across
the prairie.  They were warm winds, but our plane had to zig and zag to make
a bump-free landing.  The eastern part of the state was closed down for a
time because of high winds and blowing snow.

Our meetings in Bismarck are always interesting and relatively productive.
In a way, we're at the top of the food chain, or the money chain, because
the decisions made in these meetings will impact how much money is spent.
So the tone is more intense, I think, than the other meetings our company
has with this client.

I'm always brain dead at the end of the day.  Then we go out as a group and
talk about work some more.  I collapse in bed.  Then I get up in the morning
and we start all over again.  I did manage to work out in the hotel's
fitness center all three days I was there, so I felt good about that,
because all we do is sit, sit, and sit some more.

My mind is finally settling down from being away and thinking so much.  We
went grocery shopping last night, a nice mundane, but necessary task.  I
watched TV.  I don't watch TV in the hotel.  I love the silence in my room
and the silence encourages me to find other things to do, like check my
email and do some reading.  So TV becomes a novelty to me when I get home.
What is that funny box with a man inside of it?

I'm back home with my husband and my dog and my two cats.  My brain is
returning to normal.  My body is recovering from eating all that restaurant
food and way too many calories.  I'm not chained with my coworkers and I
don't have any pressure to carry on a conversation constantly.  I don't have
to be "on."  I can be quiet and be myself without explanation.  It's good to
be home.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and
unconditional love will have the final word.
~Martin Luther King