So far, my plan to rev up the speed of work has been successful to the point that I have completely neglected this blog. I am still trying to slice and dice my daily schedule so that at the end of day (or perhaps whenever the mood strikes), I still have enough energy left to write a few words here before I succumb to the ever-attractive force of sleep.
I was talking with my best friend the other day when I said, "I have forgotten what winter in Boston is like." I think I was punished for my poor memory because it rained heavily this morning. On the bright side, my sister and I went out and had "morning drinks" (hot chocolate for her, coffee for me) at one of our favorite local cafes in order to cheer ourselves up. We both dislike dark, cold mornings so we warmed ourselves up, inside and out, before marching on to run some errands and pack up more of our worldly belongings (the season of moving begins next Saturday...).
But getting back to the main topic, I realized for the first time in my life how strange it is to have a lapse in one's muscle memory. I could joke that this will happen more and more as time goes on, not less frequently, but it was an edifying moment to feel that one's sensory archive can lose an entry or two. Spending a humid and clammy winter in Taiwan is of course fresh in my mind, as well as the unstable temperature of Beijing in March as the seasons go through false stops and starts...but winter in Boston...I expected that it would be imprinted so deeply in my brain that nothing could replace or diminish it. One does not go through 8 winters without becoming an expert, right?
However it must either be that my wish to not feel cold and gloomy to match the weather or a subconscious longing to feel that I am living in perpetual summer has kicked in (maybe both). Today's rainstorm, in my opinion, kicks off the season of remembering -- of going through many prematurely dark afternoons and surviving long nights hearing the sounds of rain, snow, and slush -- and allowing myself to re-discover the pleasures of being indoors such as playing board games, drinking hot beverages like cocoa and apple cider, and praying for the short, short New England spring...
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