Monday, Monday

3 December



Okay, at the moment I give up – this health insurance thing is complicated. Taking a few minutes to write a blog entry will be a welcome relief.

Liam, Colin and Doug are off for a little after school cricket practice together. They are all three trying to retrain their baseball pitches and swing. They have just returned to say a Kiwi gentleman passing by stopped to give them a few, much needed pointers. He explained the one-two-three step and how to hold the bat. Cricket seems to represent our new Kiwi life. We have jumped into life and school. We really don’t know the finer points, but everyone we meet seems willing to give us pointers.

Tuesday, Tuesday, 4 December

The tempo of our family life has completely changed. I don’t know if we had to come half way around the world to accomplish these changes but our move to New Zealand coincided with other changes in our lives, namely Doug and I both quit our jobs. I had only been back to work for a year and a half since Colin had entered full time school. Doug began his career as an equity analyst the year before Liam was born. Doug left for work before the boys awoke and returned after they ate dinner. Family dinners were reserved for weekends. Usually I fed the boys and then Doug and I ate together once the boys were in bed. Now Doug is home for breakfast, he sometimes has time to play cricket after school, and we all cook and eat dinner together. At the moment, the pendulum has swung to the far extreme. Eventually we will most likely find a middle ground. Once we are settled in our new home in the New Year, Doug’s work responsibilities will increase. Hopefully we will reach a balance. I know the boys and I cherish seeing Doug more often in the daylight. Over time we will see if it is just our inexperienced perspective, but there does seem to be a better balance between home and work here than in the States.

I have personal and selfish benefits that accompany Doug’s lifestyle changes. So the changes in Doug’s schedule are at least three-fold for me. I spend more time with Doug, my sons spend more time with their pop and I have the freedom to pursue early morning activities. Since childhood, I have always preferred to wake up and head out for exercise. My preference for early morning activity probably stems from heading to the barn every morning to feed my horse and muck out my stall as a child. The whole day feels better when I exercise first. I have more focus and energy. When the boys were really little, I strapped them into the double stroller and gave each boy their own bag of frozen bagel pieces to gnaw on as I power walked with the rising sun. Then they became too big for stroller rides but too small for power walks, and Doug was gone at work so I couldn’t leave the house. I can now take an early morning yoga class several mornings a week while Doug makes breakfast and gets the boys ready for school. I have found a wake-up yoga class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I can sneak out just before the rest of the household awakes and I am back to take the boys to school.

I have never been in a yoga studio with such an incredible view as the Unity Yoga studio. We greet the morning with sun salutations facing out across Lake Wakatipu, which is bathed in the same soft light that fills the studio. While I am supposed to be moving inward, I find myself mesmerized by the sunlight creeping down Cecil Peak on the far side of Lake Wakatipu. I swear I can balance in tree pose better than ever before when I focus my gaze on an old wooden yacht moored beyond the wharf.