Sometimes you just need to have fun…

I was exhausted yesterday.

Not just tired, even though I go by tiredkate (including the url for this site); but exhausted.

I was mentally and emotionally drained in addition to physically wanting to lay down and take a nap.

As we met with a legal aid who works with the immigrants of this area, I stopped wondering about the information she was presenting and found myself incessantly looking at the clock, waiting for the break I knew was coming.

I didn’t just want that break – I needed it.

Because the reality is we’re not robots or machines. We can’t just keep going forever without adequate rest. And even though I’ve had somewhere between 7 and 8 hours of sleep every night we’ve been here, it hasn’t been enough.

Some of it is likely because I hadn’t had a day off in two weeks (my own fault). Some of it is the fact that I had some extremely long days in the weeks before I got here and every day has been full from start to finish here in El Paso. And some of it is the high emotional toll this week has taken.

Yesterday I got a break since my passport is expired – while the rest of the group went to Mexico, I and two others spent some time napping and just hanging out.

Then when the group returned, we went out to dinner – where we ‘celebrated’ Tom’s birthday (see picture above).

It was fun.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

Now, due to a schedule change, we get a break this morning, too.

It’s been more than nice.

It’s been needed.

I’m far more refreshed and ready for what comes next rather than dreading it.

But it makes me wonder how the people who struggle from day to day to make ends meet find ways to relax – how they recreate.

How do they take a much needed break when they are working 7 days a week to make ends meet?

Especially when it’s not a luxury – it’s necessary. So much so that it’s built into the creation account of Genesis 1.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.