Technically, my Artemis is with me. So there is nothing to worry about. I do talk to her and she nudges my thigh when she needs some food, but that is all our relationship is all about. My lovely bitch is more interested in the chained labs and poodles whose daily walk routine mean excitement for my Greek goddess. And there is the matter of shooing the jellicle cats away. And when Artie comes inside the house, she simply loves sleeping instead of bothering me with the household chores and my own siestas. Well….
So, I feel home alone. What is that thing they call empty nest syndrome? I do hope I would not succumb to such ever. Depression is a scary disease. I am glad I have loads of work, and before I could even think about the word rest, it is already time to go and fetch my girls.
Today is one example of what I am ranting here. I was up at 4:30 am, half an hour late from my daily waking time. That was because I had a late night last night. My Jean went on overtime again and I waited one and half hours for her at McDo. And the traffic home was, as usual, a jam. I have a long cut, but I suppose many motorists had already discovered my route, and now I am not by my lonesome self passing by the graveyard….
I cooked some fish pops and crab omelets and fried some rice for breakfast. It is a good thing that there are easy to prepare meals for days like this, when the body wouldn’t want to rise up from the bed. And Jean and Tish enjoyed my new gourmet… ha ha… but I think the ketchup made the seafood better tasting.
And I tackled the laundry just as I turned the computer on for yahoo news…. I was hanging the clothes by the time the girls got down for the new day. And minutes later, after hurried baths (I still don’t understand how my two girls seem to take their baths leisurely but are still able to beat the clock by the time I bring the L3 out), we were traversing the zig and the zag on the way to UP, and the highly congested Katipunan Avenue on the way to the train station.
As always, I am one of a hell driver, and I know many are peeved with the way I nose myself in the bumper to bumper situation, but what can I do?, I have to beat the clock at 7, especially today when I am number coded.
So I was back home a little after 7. I drizzled tank water on my new plants, especially the wild weed chleome that Tish needs for her thesis. I did pull out some wild grass and trimmed the sampaguita vines, and by the time I finished, the rain has gone and the hot sun was upon me. So, I came inside the kitchen and disinfected the sink and the floor and washed the rugs and cleaned the oven… Then I headed to the bathroom for a real good bath, the quick morning shower whilst my girls were eating were taken only because I want to feel fresh while driving. Bath always mean shampoo and conditioner, and indulging in the soft lather bubble soaps make… That done, I made myself some cream cheese croissant. And my Artie had to feed on her merienda of fried chicken and nothing else….
By noontime, the clothes have dried and I was on to ironing while listening to the horrid news.
And now, here I am, pretty bored with the reruns that followed the news, so I turned on this gadget, hoping to make a few cents before the day is over. I am glad there is facebook, and currently I am communicating with one treasured friend from a quarter century ago. I have lost a few friends in the past, including some I believed were gold. Alas, not everything that glitters is gold. But I am happy that here is one lost friend found again… true treasures lost has ways of coming back…
And the ennui, it’s nothing.
Eileen C. Leyva 