Mañana, Siesta, No pasa nada...I´m in Spain

Hola Meltingpot Readers,

I´ve been in Spain for only three days and already I´ve fallen prey to the southern Spanish lifestyle. I eat, sleep, swim, read and repeat. I cannot for the life of me summon the energy to do much more than that. My children are in heaven because I say things like, "If you´re not too tired, after dinner (at 10pm) you can watch TV a little bit before bed." Who have I become?

It´s funny, I used to resist this descent into sheer laziness everytime I came to the south of Spain, but now I try to embrace it as I very rarely have the freedom to do so at any other time of my life. What´s more, ten days after I return to the United States, I begin my first full time job after seven years of freelancing. I will be teaching at Temple University in the journalism department with a real title of assistant professor, instead of adjunct. Cool, right? But with that title, comes pressure, and deadlines and homework and everything else I don´t have to deal with in this little piece of paradise. So...I´m giving myself permission to slack off. To read the five fantastic books I brought along with me during the day instead of in snatches before bed and in the bathroom. I am going to be satisfied if the most strenuous thing I do is take a long walk on the beach with my children. And I will not allow myself to feel guilty about it. This is a blessing and I am working on feeling gratitude.

The only "work" I must do is finish the final revisions on my novel. And given my current circumstances, where I am at peace and have so much time on my hands, working on my novel doesn´t feel like work. It is pure pleasure.

So, dear readers, thanks for checking in, and please continue to do so as I keep you posted on just how lazy I can be and what´s going on in my little world.

Peace!