Delight in the Small Things
A perfect noun
After three weeks in California, today is my first real day back in Paraguay. Yesterday was my actual first day in the country, but it was a jello-y, jet-lagged dreamscape, where I varied between sleeping, tired, and starving. Nothing important happened, except that Isaac took the day off to be with me and we finally ventured to the Botanical Garden in an effort to wake me up.
California, all in all, was bliss. Recapping it to Isaac, I realized the only time I was ever really alone was when I was sleeping or on my flight from Burbank to San Francisco. I was surrounded by family and friends, some of whom flew hundreds of miles to see me. It was a three week long hug. And I needed it.
Before I left, the extreme daily heat and my intense workload for my doctorate program had me abandoning the things that kept me healthy and sane. I stopped playing music because it was distracting me from my work. I stopped exercising because it was too hot. I was finding little happiness in anything. It was rough.
Upon returning, I’m making an effort to return to myself. Being in California, I realized that I’d gotten a bit lost down here in South America. Being bombarded with so much new, I kind of folded in on myself, a mental version of the fetal position. Being back feels like the return it is. Much is familiar, less is new. I realize that I know this place. I’m effortfully unfolding myself, opening up and actively trying to find delight.
So today I set out to start taking better care of myself. I tutored, went on a walk, and on my way home, stopped at the fruit stand. Trying to channel confidence, I pointed at the nectarines and told the seller, “I don’t know the word for these in Spanish.” His reply- “Pelon.” “Pelon” I repeated back to him in an effort to add it to my mental dictionary. Walking home, I kept thinking about the word pelon. It sounded so familiar to me. I typed it into Google Translate and sure enough, I had heard it before- in my Spanish class when we were learning to describe physical attributes of people. Pelon. Bald. Absolutely perfect. A nectarine is a bald peach! What a delightful noun.
It’s a small thing, for sure, but it has me giggling and that’s something. I hope you find a noun that makes you giggle this weekend. 😘
I love that you got a three week hug and that you’re finding more and more of the familiar in your current home. Kudos on putting your intention into action re. caring for yourself— guay to go! I’m aiming to get regular walks back into my routine, they just do something for me that other more “regular” kind of workouts don’t.