coming up for air

Ever since I was a small child I have needed a lot of sleep. I was never one of those hard to deal with, night-owl kids who drove their parents insane begging for glasses of water or cookies at midnight. I was the child who sat rubbing fists into her bleary eyes and asked permission to go to bed. I am still that way. I have not been able to get all the sleep I wanted this week and have been cranky because of it. (Anyone with a child who reads this will surely thing of me as soft, I know. I realize that I have nothing to whine about in my sheltered, childless state.)

But our crisis here is exhausting too.

On top of it came the beginning of Spring Semester and all its madness. I went to bed last night at 9:30 and slept till 8:00. All that shut eye (and getting so much done during the week) did a lot to make me feel better.  I cannot really do anything about what is going on in the north. I am weary of all the news and frightened by the lack of useful information as well as the lack of progress with the stupid reactors.
 But in spite of all this and all the suffering that I know is being felt, the rest of Japan cannot stop living and working and trying to feel normal.

Yesterday on the way to a school event (yes I had to work on Saturday. That's yet another reason why I needed so much catch up sleep) we saw our local family of swans out on the irrigation canal where they have built their nest. On the way back we stopped and took some photos. The photos are not great, but the mom and the birds were so sweet--with the wee little ones climbing on her back to stay warm and safe (this is a better view of how that works). That and the new green leaves and the gorgeous cherry blossoms that we have had have lifted my spirits a bit.