Bleakness with some perspective

Kate and I have always been good at restraining our desires. We love to travel, but have an unwritten rule about flying to no more than one destination per month. We love to eat, but base our caloric intake on whatever commissary product DOESN’T have fuzz on it. And we love our evening couch time where we could easily spend hours watching our favorite downloaded shows, but we both have extra-occupational activities that severely limit our “chill” time (Kate has her master’s program and I TA an online MBA program).

We splurge by ordering diet cokes instead of water, by staying at hostels where we don’t share rooms with six other people, and by buying new clothes, which never, ever happens (here’s Pecos wearing the ripped sleeve of a work shirt that I actually wore to work with a hole in it).
This month has been particularly ascetic. We went out to eat one time (at Chili’s, believe it or not, on Ramstein Air Base). We haven’t flown anywhere (except for my work trip to Malta - see pictures below). And Kate has been incredibly busy with school work, especially considering the incident involving her thumb drive eating her 14-page paper and never pooping it out.
To add to the bleakness, the dollar continually sets news lows against the euro. The constant overcast skies Germany is infamous for haven’t mitigated the temperatures – which have sunk as dramatically as the exchange rate (both about 30 percent lower than last year at this time). And, because daylight hours at this latitude decrease quickly, it’s been difficult to get up and even more difficult to convince ourselves to go on runs in the afternoons. Together, those things make us poor, gloomy, tired, and fat.

OK – that’s the sad way of looking at it. On the bright side, Kate’s almost done with her semester; we’ve saved lots of money by not eating out as much; everyone is talking about how great and snowy this winter will be (as compared to last year’s warm and rainy winter); and this coming Thursday’s arrival of my mom, step-dad, brother, and sister-in-law means trips, food, shopping, and fun.

The darkness and coldness mean more couch time, more time enjoying the company of friends, more fun Pecos walks instead of long runs (the top picture is Pec fleeing after getting unleashed at the beginning of a walk; the one below is him jumping to catch a kicked mouthful of straw during that walk), and fewer events for me to manage at work (which, in turn, means more on-time arrivals at home).
Plus, I’ve devised a top-secret dollar-euro conversion plan of my own that I feel is the most brilliant idea my mind has come up with since creating the “to-do” list (which I actually thought I did when I was 14).

And, as I write this, I’m wearing a scarf for the first time all season, I’ve just booked a trip to stay in an ice igloo in Finland this February to see the Northern Lights, and we’re getting ready to go over to a friends to play board games (which, as a way to spend time, comes a close second to traveling).

Restraining desires is good. But enjoying each event, season, trip, purchase, and visit with perspective is probably a better way to look at life. Especially with my new top-secret conversion plan!