The clock stops, but my world turns.

Or is it the other way around?

It seems like I’ve only arrived in Portugal. And yet it seems like I’ve always been here.

 

Realization: I live here

I had a realization that I live here. It’s not just vacation or a visit. I live here. Rent. Food. Transportation.

This is not a totally new sensation, having experienced it fairly recently in Tennessee. But that took longer. It was probably more than a month before I had those feelings. In many ways, it still doesn’t seem real. Portugal or Tennessee, for that matter.

When you live your entire life someplace, it’s odd when you leave.

For me, I still feel like a visitor for a while. Especially in Tennessee, because I had visited there many times. It felt like a longer vacation, but I knew there wasn’t a home to go back to.

Now, I technically have Tennessee to go back to. But I believe that will be short-lived. Other places will call.

Still, I am here now in Portugal. I need to experience it fully. Dawning moments, like this one, are welcome.

This is how I want to live

This is what I wanted. Not to be rushed to see everything or do everything, but just to live.

To get up leisurely, make coffee and breakfast. To sit and eat. To work and not worry about missing something. To go to the market spur the moment, because it’s a short walk and the day is sunny. To cook a meal. To sit on the balcony and watch the sky and take in the view. To wash the dishes and sweep the floor. To play with the cats. To visit over tea and a too-sweet treat. To plan a trip to shop at the mall like it’s a big thing. To go on a long walk. To explore a new street. To visit a museum and take time to really look. To eat on a European schedule — 8 or 9 am, 2 pm, 8 pm or later. To go to bed when I want and not because I have to get up for work in the morning. To sit at a cafe enjoying a cup of coffee. To take pictures. To not be rushed.

Truthfully, I’ve been wanting this forever. I was working toward it for the past several years, trying to be more leisurely in my actions. Not lazy, because I still get things done. I’m still a neat freak. But without the clock always ticking. For work. Or bed. Or dinner. Or the next responsibility.

 

The clock stops

I didn’t like the clock ticking on vacation, either. Yet, if you want to see it all in a week, you put on your walking shoes and you hit the ground running. It’s like a necessary evil, trading quality for quantity.

That’s why I always wanted to live in the places I visited — to stop the clock, so to speak.

And so I have, in a manner.

Yes, these three months will fly by. But I’ll spend my time here laid back and relaxed. Very little pressure to do anything, except put in my work hours, and that’s flexible and on my time.

Always here. Always will be. Always have been.

The clock stops. My world still turns.

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Be a Better Writer

Repeating words or phrases can create emphasis.

It’s interesting that the program I use to track search engine optimization for this website doesn’t like repetition. Yoast will ding me for starting multiple sentences in a row with the same word. My “readability analysis” for this particular column is a red frowny face.

Here’s the thing: It won’t get better, because I want the repetition in this column.

I understand in other instances it’s good to have variety. If you read the same thing — the same word starting sentences — it gets old quickly. Think about when you read something and every sentence started with “I.” Pretty boring, right?

Adding variety spices up the language and makes your brain think it’s novel. Since I’ve been writing these blog posts, I’ve really tried to work on that aspect of my writing. At this point, it’s almost second nature.

However, there are times when, as a writer, you may want to repeat a word or phrase.

Such was the case in this column. Sometimes you need to break the rules.