Exhaustion has taken over my body and I won’t be able to write for long – but it’s predominantly self-inflicted, and it’s a wonderful, satisfied exhaustion and it feels good.
The week began quietly, albeit busily. It was the final week of the university semester so I taught my final classes. My students handed in their assignments in preparation for my horrendous week of marking which commences in the final week of October. I received about 60 x 1500 word lab reports from second year students, and I received about 20 x 4000 word reports from the fourth year students. That is a LOT of marking – and I find marking tiresome, boring, and generally tedious at the best of times.
Tuesday night was Abbie’s birthday party to finalise her 6th birthday celebrations. She had half a dozen friends over for a pizza party after school. The kids made chocolate lolly pizzas, played games, and ate real pizza. Perhaps Ella ate too much because first thing Wednesday morning our little angel was very sick. She stayed that way for the rest of the week.
Kylie picked up her new pushbike on Wednesday. It’s big, red, and shiny – and Kylie is very excited. She’s all ready to go for it now, we just need to get a time when the family can run down to the bikeway and jump on the bikes. Everyone has their bike, we have the bike rack – hopefully it will happen soon.
Friday was a super day. I went for an early surf with a friend. The weather was perfect, the water was clear and cool, and dolphins were swimming with us as we surfed. A pod of about 10 dolphins swam up and down the beach within a couple of metres of us several times during the morning. It was terrific! And the surf was good too. A brief meeting at uni was scheduled. I discovered that I was marking the lab reports too harshly and had to readjust the few reports I had already marked. Then Kylie and I went to the wedding of some friends from church.
The wedding was held at the top of Bulli pass, a treacherous track winding its way down from the top of the mountain range into suburbia at the bottom. The area in which we live is basically a 40-50klm stretch of land positioned between the escarpment and the ocean. To get into Wollongong means going down one of several steep roads from the top of the escarpment into the developed coastal land below. The scenery was beautiful. We stared across the region with wonder, and gazed at the expansive ocean almost as if we’d never seen it before. The view was as good as any that can be witnessed. And as we stared we saw whales breaching about 1 km off the coast! The bride laughed, commenting that she’d organised that at the last minute.
We had a terrific night. I ate antipasto and prawns, steak (a big one) and delicious vegetables. We spent time with good friends, and danced! Even me – but only with Kylie, and only briefly. Nonetheless, it was good fun. Bedtime arrived later than normal though, around 11pm.
Saturday morning I went surfing again! Twice in two days… but to do so I had to leave home before 5am. That meant not much sleep. I surfed with a friend at Thirroul for an hour before jumping back into the car and driving to pick up some of the Young Men. We had organised a big bike ride – of 50 km for the morning. I was tired at the end of the riding. I had also locked my keys in the car. A call to the NRMA solved that problem, but only my pillow could solve my other problem. After I got home Kylie took the children to a church activity while I cleaned the house. When I was done I laid my head down to rest. Annie awoke within three minutes of my lying down. No sleep for me! But to make amends I got another surf in for the afternoon. The waves were the first ones we’ve had in over six weeks so I was determined to make the most of it.
Sunday was a real thrill. We arrived at church 20 minutes early – which is an accomplishment in and of itself. The children were presenting their Primary presentation in our sacrament meeting. It was wonderful. The girls did a great job with their lines and singing. And the 20-plus children on the stand were terrific. Sunday night we ate a roast dinner with friends… roast is definitely my favourite. And then we fell into bed exhausted after late nights, weddings, dancing, riding, surfing, and serving our way through another stellar week.
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