Pause

Phil has this habit of pausing after getting my attention. "Hey Jen"... 3 seconds pass, sometimes 5, and occasionally 10 whole seconds will go by before he follows up with any information. Those 3 second intervals are more often excruciating than not these days. I brace myself each time; wondering what news might follow that dreaded pause. I finally shared with him the other day that it would help me a lot if he would quickly follow his initial request for my attention with some bit of information. With all of the drama and change that we have had thrown our way recently, I just can't take anything for granted. This is China after all...

I will say that Phil did a good job yesterday when he called to tell me that our apartment fell through. Two seconds passed between me saying, "this doesn't sound like good news" and him saying, "nope- it's not good news". I won't fault him for the 5-7 second pause between that and delivering the part where he told me, "so the landlord didn't sign the contract, etc." His brain, much like mine, has had about all the bending it can take.

So if you are wondering if I mean we now have no foreseeable place to live after our stint here in the hotel, you are correct. Tomorrow morning we will hit the streets with our realtor in search of another place- again.

-Phil and Jen