Wow. This was one hell of a week, with a LOT of work, some of it quite unexpected, and with some interesting events.
It started off nicely, though. The weekend was full of playdates: 3! The first one ended with this sunset on Lac Léman. The second one was in Portuguese, and we were stunned to see how quickly Toddler became at ease playing with the other girls, whilst in French she is usually quite shy. The third one was in France, with some friends that own the house of our dreams, and their kids own the Toddler’s dream playhouse. We had potatoes with melted Mont d’Or cheese and went for a small walk in the nearby mountains, with a slight peek to the Alps just in front, before being enveloped in the foggy and sharp November cold.
We held a second workshop for musicians. Although prepared at the very last minute, and maybe not as well as I would have liked, it was very good. Because of these workshops, I have been reading on topics that I hadn’t thought about for a long time, such as emotions, the underlying neuroscientific concepts… leading me to order a few books to add to my ever growing to-read pile, one of my main sources of frustration. Until the end of the year, I am determined to find a strategy to attack my pile, including some books that I have never gotten around to reading for over a decade!
The cold is here to stay, and we’ve had some very low temperatures. This means we’ve lit the fire every day for over a week, much to the Toddler’s and the cat’s delight. And mine, after some challenging work days.
Towards the end of the week, just as things were supposed to slow down a little and I expected to tie some loose ends and get to run a little, Toddler got the gastroenteritis bug. We braced ourselves, because gastro is highly contagious and last time I was sick too and we contaminated another whole family. Luckily, this time, it was just the Toddler. Here’s what to do when gastroenteritis hits your house.
During this week, I found myself in some situations, such as a general assembly with highly competent women, or interviews with some people with amazing careers and ideas. This led, of course, to a bit of a case of impostor syndrome. My response to this was to make lists and plans to improve my knowledge and performance and this is what I bring into the next week. Soldier on!