"The Internet's back!!!" I heard at about 7pm.
I don't know with any certainty since neither the phone company nor Manos the attorney responded to my queries, but I'm taking it that my network hypothesis was correct since we did absolutely nothing to change anything. And order is restored in the universe. The kids can have their morning YouTube Kids time before breakfast.
Yesterday was a "rest day" - that fourth day between three-day sets of beach days. Only, to my pleasant surprise, the kids still wanted to swim. They just didn't want a full beach day. The compromise position was easy – go to the small beach in front of town. It has three cafes which during the summer have beachside seating. These venues function largely as the local swimming pool. In the afternoons when many shops close, Patmian parents take their kids to the beach between the harbor and the New Marina (which are so close to each other, the uninitiated probably wouldn't catch the distinction) and have their afternoon coffee while the kids play in the water. I've never learned a more formal name for the beach, so we call it The Meltemi Beach – named for one of the three cafes. Only this time we sat at Atherion – which brings unlimited free bottles of filtered cold water and has a very nice menu. During the winter – when Atherion was indoor seating only – it became my favorite place to write and work due to its big windows through which to see the water, good food, pleasant decor and numerous wall outlets.
The Meltemi Beach solution allowed us to walk to the beach at 3pm when everyone was ready. The kids spent a couple of hours swimming, I got a great fancy iced tea and worked and Sennen was able to observe and consider the operations of ferries, cruise ships and tenders – all on direct display. It was refreshing, simple and the kids were able to hybrid their day. I see more of those kinds of "rest days" coming.
However, mixed feelings about perhaps not getting all they wanted out of their "rest day" remained – so to my surprise, they settled on a Pleiades day today – enjoying the swimming pool overlooking Sapsilla Bay instead of the sea itself. I can't figure out exactly why the swimming pool is "beach lite" given the beaches are clear, still and the water makes you buoyant. It may just be an American context. Or maybe it's just fresh water being refreshing – especially in a pool with low or no chlorine. With the view of the dazzling water below, it doesn't feel like we're missing much.
Of course "rest days" and "beach lite" don't necessarily equate to "life lite". Sennen faced a new and vexing situation at basketball practice last night. He learned that middle-schoolers are middle-schoolers everywhere. Most of the boys in the 12-15 year-old cohort have been playing basketball under Coach Dimitris for years. They know each other well, all speak Greek and are very skilled. Sennen is used to playing basketball with his friends before school and at lunch. It's been several years since he's been in an organized basketball league – and to be frank – and with all the love in the world – he was never a star player.
So on Sennen's second basketball practice, he was the kid who struggled the most in various drills. The combination of being different to begin with and a distinctly lesser performer is like chum to Middle School boys. Sennen said no one was outright rude – which is better than I'd expect of Middle Schoolers at home – but he could hear the snickers and comments laced with "Ameriiki." Given Middle Schoolers are both sensitive to being made fun of and equally perpetrators of meanness – it's hard for me to know how much of what happened was rudeness and how much as Sennen's own self-consciousness in what is a new and naturally uncomfortable situation.
After an hour, Sennen felt saturated and decided to leave practice early, making the excuse that I was expecting him home for dinner. We talked a lot about what happened and Sennen's inclination was not to return to basketball again. While I understood – and part of me wanted to give him the freedom to decide something wasn't a good fit – I had felt discomfited by the idea of him shrinking to some teasing and not persevering. It felt like a defeat that could teach a bad lesson.
The result of MUCH listening, empathy, conversation, alternative perspectives and exchange was that I didn't take away Sennen's agency to make his own decision and instead, decided to channel my inner-Singapore and incentivized the behavior I wanted: I'd match whatever Eirini pays him this week in his part-time job if he returns to basketball practice on Friday and sees the whole thing through. I told Sennen that sometimes it's important to put your money where your mouth is and that's what I'm doing. Something about that resonated and Sennen decided he was going to go back and show those kids what he's made of. It could just be greed. Whatever his motivation, if he can recover from his slip, he'll learn a lot more than if he tries, fails and stays home.
At the same time, the road to hell is paved with good intentions – so we'll see how right I am or not. Anything can happen and it's always possible the lesson is mine.
One lesson we can all learn is there's no escaping life anywhere. If we're going to be part-time residents, we can expect at least part-time life issues: internet outages, mean Middle Schoolers, parking challenges, cats yowling at 4:30 am possibly mating, grocery stores that are out of the good toilet paper. Patmos can't be perfect and our need to learn, grow and overcome is no different here than anywhere.
In the meantime, we can enjoy our Pleiades day replete with view and remember, everything has a value, but most things aren't THAT important. If Patmos has anything to offer, it's perspective.
