Sometimes, even if waking up is not too bad, getting up is hard.

There is no external force that's pushing me to get out of bed, and the consequences of not getting up are not directly evident in the cozy darkness.

But I've noticed that it is very much a finger cuffs situation: If I stop trying to get out of bed — if I let go and just do what I feel like doing — there will be a point at which, without even thinking about it, I throw the covers off, sit up, and begin the standing-up part of my day.

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To get from mainland Greece to the island of Santorini can be done in a few different ways.

You can fly directly from Athens in under an hour.

You can also take a couple of different types of ferries from Piraeus, Athens’ port city. One is a high-speed ferry that takes about four and a half hours. The other runs at a more moderate speed, taking more than seven hours to make the trip.

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I never should have bought my first house.

It had an awkward floor plan and poor natural light. An ugly apartment building loomed over the backyard, and trains from the CSX rail yard would screech by at all hours of the day and night. Worse, I couldn't really afford it.

But I bought the house anyway because I focused on the upside and figured I could mitigate the downside. I have always tended to say yes to the new.

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The kids are back in school, and I miss them.

Life goes on at The Little Middle School—surprisingly normally, given the masks. And I’m not there for any of it. I’m over a thousand miles away, alone and waiting for my second shot.

It’s fine — I wouldn’t even really have time to engage with the students. I will stay busy the entire day and not get to the end of the work. I will provide support to the teachers from afar, and that will have to be enough.

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