These are the days

Everyone said summer started on the fourth of July (after saying it started in May, June, etc).  And they were right.  After weeks of rain and gloom, July 4th dawned bright and sunny.  The past two days I've sat on the balcony in the afternoon reading The Historian, reveling in the feel of sunshine.  I can wear short-sleeves finally.  I can go outside in flats or sandals instead of tennis shoes and boots.  The breeze that blows through the apartment is deliciously cool, instead of cold and damp.

This morning I trekked to Whole Foods for bits of watermelon and guacamole, and to get quarters for laundry and a lavender-scented fabric softener.  The fabric softener smells like the shops in Colonial Williamsburg, somehow floral and spicy at the same time.  Now I'm heating up some leftover chicken and rice for lunch, between periodically running to change laundry loads, and I think when the sun hits the balcony this afternoon I'll sit and read again, with a glass of raspberry lemonade.  Or maybe I'll cross-stitch with my Jane Eyre audiobook to keep me company.  Or perhaps indulge in a little Muzzy to improve my French.  Reading or cross-stitching or working on French-- the best choices in the world.  If this were my everyday, I'd be completely content.

Yesterday, too, was wonderful.  I woke up with an e-mail from one of my favorite academics-- she's, to me, a celebrity for her work on English theater.  I own most of her books and used several of them during my masters work and for my thesis, thus, I couldn't stop smiling because of this e-mail.  I felt overawed!  Then, my professor from last quarter helped me finagle a scheduling issue so I can take the textual studies class that I need to take!  I get to take it!  It felt like a sign from God that I'm meant to be in this program and that I'm on the right track for my career goals.  Finally!  :)