Journeys of a Pregnant Virgin

It has been a slow, quiet Sunday, much needed after a week of whirlwind travel and visits. Outside it is raining and storming after some unexpected hours of sunshine, but I am cozy in my little nest on the side of Zurichberg, with the Bach Cantatas I bought this afternoon rippling and flowing as I write.

On Thursday I arose at 4:30 am to get the 6 o'clock train to Leipzig, where David met me at the train station with Jonas and Hannah peeking out shyly from behind his legs, to be joined a few minutes later by Jana, who had stayed behind to make sure the cheesecake was baked well enough. Then we all headed out to the airport where Steve was waiting for us. How wonderful to see him after five weeks apart - our longest separation since 1988 when we began to live together in New York - looking lean and elegant and as happy to see me as I was to see him. It was a loooong hug we shared.

Jana had prepared a lovely dinner - the cheesecake was delicious - and the little ones entertained us mightily with their antics. Then Steve and I both collapsed at the Hotel Leonardo. The next day I returned to Zurich, only to discover that two consecutive eight-hour train trips of reading and writing and watching the scenery fly by at 160 km per hour (sometimes "backwards" depending on the direction of the seats) had left me with the worst bout of vertigo I have had in a long time.

I didn't feel well on Friday night when I returned, late, but when the telephone woke me up at 4:30 am and I staggered to turn the light on, I thought I would pass out because the room was spinning at an incredible rate and I could not get it to stop. As anyone who has experienced it knows, vertigo is a very nasty thing and there is nothing to do but wait it out. The first time I had an attack Steve went out to get me some medication but I could not even keep it down. The nausea was so severe I vomited. I've never again had that terrible an attack but it always leaves me headachey, nauseated, and feeling as if my body has been through a battle.That is how I felt yesterday and today.

Yesterday I had an eight hour dream seminar located half an hour away by tram. I didn't know if I could sit in another train but decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because the seminar was interesting and even though I felt lousy, at least the day was engaging and productive. I would not even have been able to read, had I stayed at home. Today I'm still feeling the symptoms but less acutely. I guess the lesson for me is not to assume I can spend 22 hours reading and writing on trains in 5 days, and expect to feel energetic and healthy at the end of it. Holding my head down and then lifting it up again frequently to look at the whizzing scenery must have left my inner ear completely confused and disoriented!

I am nearing the halfway point of my time in Europe and from here on in the time will pass with increasing rapidity (at least it will feel that way) because of everything still to happen. Yvonne and I have dreamed up a weekend in Paris in mid-June and then Ursula arrives to prepare for Body Soul Writing. And then it is July.

I have read some wonderful things lately and want to be sure to include some quotes again - next time.