Beautiful Morning

I feel light and happy this morning because it’s Thursday, my day off! Well, it’s not exactly rest day. It’s more like an errand day for me but any break I can get away from the hospital or from my clinic makes me happy all the same.

Last night, for the first time since hubby had left for a week-long business trip last weekend, I had restful sleep. It felt good. It was a mere 5-hour sleep but my body felt recharged. Quality talaga over quantity. Dear Lord must have heard my prayers when I begged him to remove all fears lurking in my heart (and imagination).

I woke up early (yet 15 min later than what I had intended) and scrambled about in the kitchen to cook guisadong beans and carrots. Kuya’s teacher asked the class to bring nutritious food, good for sharing with 2-3 other people, in lieu of this week’s celebration of Nutrition Week. As I scooped the veggies into his lunchbox, I felt more pleased than harassed. A great way to start the day.

Things on my to-do list for today include:

• Doing some grocery shopping – I know, I know. It seems like I do this every week. One word - baon. Last-minute na kulang sa bahay (Have I mentioned we’ve moved to our new home and that is “liblib”? Walang suking tandahan within, I’d say, a 5-km radius). Haller. We cannot afford to run out of patis or kamatis. I do realize I need to get myself more organized to spare me a few more trips, equating to a few more liters of gas saved.

• Typing up some documents for work. (This was exactly what I intended to do as I opened up my laptop but here I am, talking to you).

• Sending these documents to their intended recipients by LBC.

• A quick run to the bank to deposit a couple of checks. “Mga barya” by other people’s standards but they are a product of my sweat and saliva, of times spent sitting in my clinic patiently listening to all sorts of patient troubles, so it gives me a real thrill whenever I deposit these checks.

• Drive my son to his Taekwondo class

• Perhaps I can afford some time for bookstore window-shopping (my third this week, ay caramba!)? Or maybe I’d be fortunate enough to find a Booksale?

• Most important but not necessarily the most urgent on my to-do list is to get right back to unpacking some of the boxes that are cluttered around the house. I’ve been meaning to but just didn’t have the discipline to do it. During the first few days here, I was running around, decluttering and fixing things like crazy. Seems I’ve sunk comfortably into my new place and have lost my momentum. Hmmm.

It still amazes me how much more I am able to do here compared to when we still lived in the Metropolis. It’s like having been gifted with a few more hours every single day. It used to feel like all I ever did was wake up, rush to work and commute for hours, see a few (or none) patients, commute back for another couple of hours, rest a while, eat, then zonk out to sleep. Then it’s another day.

Here, even on days when I do have clinic, I am still able to help the kids with homework, do a few errands (like yesterday, I dropped by the market, just a block from work, and bought some fruits and vegetables, and ordered a birthday cake for the Little Girl’s upcoming birthday [4 years old, can you believe it?]) and still indulge in short but sweet periods of activities I loved to do most – I did some needle-work (cross-stitching) for half an hour and leisurely read a book for another half hour.

Ah, the joys and pleasures of a fledgling physician! They say it takes two years to build up one’s practice before one gets swamped with patients. Right now, I can’t complain. I am enjoying every minute of it.