Not too much exciting here with more fevers and flu. Anya has been very helpful.
Years ago–actually 2007–I attended my first Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion conference in San Diego. This is a HUGE conference with about 12,000 people in biblical and religious scholarship and academia attend. I was invited by my roommate, Beth, to attend the Oxford reception, as her doctorate is from Oxford. As she was chatting with friends and faculty, I sat with Jane Barr, the widow of James Barr, who had recently passed away. I believe she was visiting friends in California and so stopped by to see all her late husband’s colleagues.
As we were chatting, she relayed in a most distinguished British accent, “Oh James, I didn’t want him to worry at all about the home front; the cooking, the cleaning, the children, yes, I took care of it all.”
I realized that I will never be a James Barr–in so many ways–but with the reality that I was working and taking care of the home front. I don’t have the luxury of having the minutia of life managed by someone else to free me up to optimize my potential.
Now, I am glad that I have a primary role of being a mom. Anya is great joy (most of the time) and we typically get along well (not without bumps). I love the moments when Anya is oozing with commentary and perhaps spinning on the wood floor or singing songs from Broadway musicals. What joy! We’re pretty good travel partners too.
However, this sabbatical is a bit of being able to focus more on the work of the dissertation (when I don’t have the flu). I’m not working, I have less responsibilities at church and around the home. I don’t have a big social life here. And life slows down when you don’t have a car and have to walk and/or take the bus. It has taken a bit of time to figure out new systems and get in the groove. I was just feeling in the groove when the flu hit. Lord, have mercy.
Between fevers, thick headedness, and blahness, I tried working on the 75 pages of transcription (single spaced) from the 2013 interviews with my Maasai research participants with my annotations, color coding key concepts, and adding citations to the dissertation. I got only 1/3rd of the way through. Maybe I can get half way before the end of day.