"Daddy, I'm just sorry you guys can't do anything today," Sennen sweetly said as he laid down on the sofa.
"Sennen, that doesn't matter. We've done everything there is to do on Patmos and all that really matters is that you feel better. What matters most to me in all the world?"
"Me and Ailyn."
"Right. So we're going to have an easy day at home and we'll pack. Besides, you were going to work today and we would have only had a few hours at the beach before your training session with Coach Thanasis. So we're not even missing that much."
Sennen then laid down and fell asleep within a minute. He's napped three times today which is three more times than he's napped in the past year.
Mostly his stomach bothers him and he has been in the bathroom a lot. Sometimes he gets a mild headache. But this morning he woke me because he was burning up. I gave him some children's ibuprofen the one time and the fever hasn't returned since. It's hard to tell if it's some food poisoning or a mild stomach flu – but I think the course of treatment is about the same: rest, water and small amounts of simple foods.
While it would be nice to enjoy the beach today, the time at home with the kids isn't wasted. Even if it's Ailyn packing, Sennen playing Minecraft and me figuring out how to place an order on IKEA Greece's complicated online checkout – we're together. There's chit-chat and funny moments.
"Daddy, I like fever dreams! I had the craziest dreams and they were great!" Sennen said at one point.
"Daddy, can I bring my donkey milk to mommy's house when we get back?" Ailyn asked – referring to the donkey milk hair mask we bought two days ago.
The goal was to get a high-quality hair mask for her hair that was tangled and dry from too much salt water. The lady at the cosmetics shop said that she believes in using only natural products on little girls' hair and she uses this one Greek donkey milk hair mask on her daughter. She put some on Ailyn and my hands – we didn't know what to do with it once we had smelled its pleasant aroma, so I clumsily wiped it in Ailyn's hair. She did the same, which made me feel better. In the end, the donkey milk came through and Ailyn's hair was so much better after one use that Ailyn is now a donkey milk enthusiast and evangelist. If Body Farm ever wants a spokesgirl in an effort to break into the American market, I think they have one.
"This peanut butter tastes like diesel. I don't like it." The local brand of organic peanut butter went over less enthusiastically. It was very low on salt….
"I wish we could just stay here forever!" Ailyn exclaimed at another point. I was taken aback because Ailyn is more looking forward to her mom, friends and family than Sennen is. Then I realized she was standing at what has become the "craft table" realizing that packing up her supplies and cleaning up the scraps seemed more daunting than not returning home. That would only last so long, so I prodded her to power through, and eventually she did.
"Maybe we should stop caring about cats," Sennen suggested at dinner last night. "Ailyn, we have to stop fighting about these cat names!" This came after things started to get heated about whether a nearby cat they had just discovered should be Honey (Ailyn) or Tiramisu (Sennen). I personally preferred Tiramisu as a name except the cat's coloring looked nothing like Tiramisu. All the same, I was pleased to see Sennen recognize that naming stray cats shouldn't be a point of contention – especially over a nice dinner at Yiamas.
Patmos has given us many gifts, but perhaps the biggest of all is time. Here, my official work hours at 4pm to midnight. I have the entire day to give my kids and taking care of errands and tasks is so easy it eats up very little time – and they can come along. This configuration of the day has been pretty great. I find moments in my "workday" to have dinner, check in with the kids, take them to the gym and back, etc. They spent time with my mom in the evenings when she was here and now they read, use this book of personality quizzes I bought them, make laniards and bracelets, or watch a TV show I downloaded on Sennen's iPad. Of course they also shower and go to bed. On a weekday at home, we have two to four hours with each other per day. Here, they get me closer to seven to ten hours a day. It's a giant quality of life difference.
Which makes perfect sense. Patmos' essence is quality of life. It always begs the question: why leave? My best answers have always been family, friends and being able to raise my kids with Jewish community. Still, I have to remind myself of that pretty often and this time, I've had to remind Sennen too.
Taking the kids home will mean a few last days together stateside, but they won't be the same. I'll still have Patmos for another five weeks, but not my kids under such ideal circumstances. So far, I've had only the upside of the first divorced summer. Next comes some of the downside. My goal will be to use the five weeks for personal flourishing. I'll focus on the house, work, reading, yoga and breathing in both the literal and figurative sense. It's been a helluva' year.
Patmos has long been known as a place of emotional and spiritual healing. That's the right place for me right now. It has been great for my family and it will be good for me personally. Hopefully Patmos can extend some physical healing to Sennen so we can enjoy our last day here tomorrow (our ferry doesn't leave until 23:59 – just one minute left to the day).
Perhaps it can also make it so my new mattress arrives about the same time as I return. My back, shoulders and neck could use some physical healing too. I guess my bed is at least one thing I can look forward to back in Thousand Oaks….
