Monday of all Mondays

I woke up early this morning.  Outside my window, I could hear the rain pouring down and spitting out the downspout.  It took me by surprise.  My son and I were going to head out for one last hike before he went back to school tomorrow.  I wasn't going to let a little rain stop me from enjoying the adventure.

I got showered and all packed up, ready to go.  As we were doing our final prep work, I was notified that the hike had been cancelled.  The hike host's son had a fever and the rain was the final straw.  The hike was quiet a distance for me to not really know where I was going.  The trek to the trail head included 2 trains, 1 bus, and a 2 km walk.  I asked my son what he wanted to do and he didn't want to go on a hike without friends. 

He started playing with his toys while I took the time to get busy on our taxes.  Before I knew it, 2 hours had passed and it was time to FaceTime with my girlfriend back in the US.  It couldn't have been better timing because the taxes were really starting to get me in a negative mood.  According to my research, there are only 2 countries in the world that make you file and pay taxes when you are an expatriate and earn a "foreign income" - Eritrea (a northeastern country in Africa) and the US.  Typically, taxes are only paid where you are a resident.

Chatting with my friend greatly improved my mood.  Afterwards, my son and I had a quick lunch and he distracted himself with a maze book.  I was very tired after my disappointing morning.  So, I decided to take a nap.  When I told my son my intent, he exclaimed "if you are tired, it must be nap time!"  He then curled up on the couch under a blanket and fell fast asleep without any prompting. 

When we woke up, we both felt rested and refreshed.  We were ready to go to the garden and get the zucchini and winter squash planted.  Loading up the bikes took just a minute, and then we headed over.

The eggplants were still growing nicely and the beans are coming up.  We pulled the few weeds and found several humungous grubs that met their maker.  As we put the squash in the ground, it started to rain again.  We packed up and headed back home.

Today felt like a Monday.  It was sort of a depressing end to my son's spring break.  On the bright side, he is over the moon about going back to school tomorrow.  He wants to spend time with his friends and do all the fun school activities.  We still don't know if he will have the same teacher or not.  It is just the way things are done here. 

Tomorrow is a new day.  I'll wrap up our family's taxes and my son will start back at school.  It will be a good day.