Getting out in it

    I've talked with a relatively new but increasingly important person in my life about the sun recently--about how turning points can seem like getting out into the sun, for instance, and how failure to make decisions can feel as if one's avoiding the sun and living only from night to night. The analogies were brought home to me in new and sometimes painful ways this weekend. Friday was an abysmal day from start to finish. I've rarely had a day like that, so overwhelmingly negative. There was one amazing bright spot, a surprise so pure and startling that I'm shaking my head even now to remember it. But overall, it was a day that I'd like to expunge from my history entirely. I missed a much wished-for call that night that couldn't be returned (for convoluted reasons). Saturday was a blur of driving, packing, crappy errands, and finally an odd trip out of town upon which I should have been the 5th wheel but instead caused problems for someone else while having an undue amount of ...not "fun," exactly, but comfort and camaraderie, anyway. So in a sense I was out in the sun that night, not forced but against my will to some extent. Sunday was just weird. I went to the Head of the Rock regatta. If you've never been to a regatta, I highly recommend it. The scenery was gorgeous--and the river wasn't bad, either. Definitely in the sun again, given that I'm burnt to a crisp. My nose is bright red, and my cheeks and chin are very red. My ears and the top of my head are just bright pink. The area around my eyes and across my nose is an advertisement for Oakley, though: pure white. I look ridiculous. In a couple of days, despite my best efforts to slather myself in comforting gels, I'll be peeling and [more] freckled.
    And today I'm back on the horse, so to speak. Back in the game, facing the thing that knocked me down on Friday. I feel like shit. I have a headache that's extending about 5 inches into my neck, I'm peeling my fingernails, and I'm nearly useless for anything beyond the most menial task. Luckily for the powers that be, I've a full cart of books to be processed, so it's a match made in library heaven. What was that inspirational thing that Churchill said? (I know, that narrows it down.) Here it is:
"If you are going through Hell, keep going."Keep going.