Today marked day 17 of the 40 day yoga challenge, and day 1 of my husband’s three week trip to Europe. My challenge is now amplified because I’m struggling to quell feelings of envy, and also push against the hollow that’s shaping into loneliness.

It doesn’t help that my dog is whining by the door, wondering when her favorite owner will re-enter our living space. Sorry Tobi – you’ve got 21 weeks in dog-time to suffer through. I guess I’m getting off easy.

But honestly, this time will be good for me. I look around our place and see opportunity – untidy things I can obsess over or random chores that didn’t seem important last week. I’ve got lots of people to catch up with, new opportunities to dive into, hours of sleep to log, lotsa yoga to work through, and now more time now to get dirty in it.

Speaking of dirty. Yoga in the summer.

I love what the summer heat does to my muscle fibers. Like ice cream that’s sat in a bowl for a few extra minutes – yoga just tastes better in the heat. My sticky matt becomes a slip n’ slide, I squish into it when rolling from a squat to an inversion, down dogs lose their grip and become high planks. Okay it’s gross, but getting gross is kind of nice – once a day – for about an hour.

Yoga today was lengthening. We did lots of stretching with cloth bands, and broke apart scar tissue with golf balls. My balance was worse than normal – one of those days I felt like a stool needing a third leg. I hope my visceral balance is not an indicator of my internal stability.

Now for a cold sauvignon blanc and a starfish pose sleep… why not use the space.