How's The Sabbatical Going?

Singing along is bittersweet.

Sweet is the wave of recognition in a crowded room when a song plays.  Strangers point at - even sing to - each other as if they are friends.  As the whole song plays, bald spots emerge.  

Maybe the chorus is known or the air guitar solo can be played but the lyrics get fuzzy.  

Think Cyndi Lauper.  How many can really sing verse 3 of Girls Just Want To Have Fun?  

Sabbaticals are bittersweet.

Sweet is the prospect of rest; bitter the truths stillness uncovers.  Resting includes facing the lies and difficulties that career busyness helps to hide.  When still and alone, sabbath can include the heart work of forgiveness, the head work of separating worth from career and the handiwork of filling days with meaning.    

Beaches, piña coladas and sing alongs are lovely but music fades, ice melts and the sun sets.  Bigger and better versions of rest and recreation the next day are allowed because, well, that's what a sabbatical can include.  Sabbaticants, however, have to do it all over again with another group of people.  

Everyone from last night's karaoke had to go do what people who are busy working, are looking for work or retired from work do.  Singing with new strangers is fine until a week in the karaoke buffet brings you back around to the same group from last Friday night.  

Long periods of rest, reflection and restoration are bittersweet.

Bitter is an employer's condition that time away has to be structured but sweet is the result.  Reliant, as a condition of the sabbatical, demanded a plan.  A few weeks of Bobby McFerrin impersonating were even encouraged.  As the midway point approaches, gratitude abounds for the many voices that kept asking, "...and then what?" when the plan was a bathtub of bonbons during March Madness.

College basketball was historic and thanks to the hundreds of people praying, life is more meaningful than television.  Sabbatical goals include learning how to sail, writing another book and conversational Spanish.  Sailing lessons start in six weeks; a writing coach has been helpful.

Spanish is bittersweet.

Sweet is the recognition, among Spanish-speakers, of the genuine effort to learn.  Bitter are the mistakes and corrections from children and adults alike.  A community college class is working alongside a weekly practice group at the library.  Attending a Spanish-speaking church keeps a Spanish Bible open but singing along opens a portal of understanding.

Think Chuck E. Cheese.

Chuck E. has an economy that allows prizes to be purchased with tickets.  Tickets are won by playing games and one of the games is the wind tunnel.  A child is placed inside portal littered with tickets.  Wind stirs tickets into chaos and the child is supposed to catch as many as possible in the time allotted.  Some do better than others and practice helps.

Language learning is a game and comprehension is the ticket.  Each vocabulary word or prepositional phrase earns cross-cultural currency.  Listening, and speaking, surrounds language learners with fast-moving opportunities.  Plucking meaning out of rapid monologues is a skill.  Some do better than others; practice helps.

By God's grace, sabbatical isolation gives time to practice.  Spanish proficiency is increasing because Isaiah 55 is true, hundreds are praying alongside and something more tasty than bonbons has been discovered: fruit.

Fruit of Spanish study is bittersweet.  Sweet nectar of understanding flows from one of the Spanish worship channels.  A ticket or two from the chorus can be picked up, but the habit of reading the lyrics while artists minister is changing the game.  Verb usage, subject agreement and compound sentences emerge.  

Nice.

Bitter is the periodic confusion despite access to lyrics and surround sound.  Reading along, listening and singing along still leaves gaps, but today...

Today's ignorance was different.  Averly Morillo's offering followed the same pattern of sound and reading of lyrics.  Reading along, however, included familiarity.  Known vocabulary was missing from her lyrics and unknown content inserted.  Feeling dumb is a part of learning, so at first the feeling was ignored.  Listening again, however, reinforced comprehension and a certainty Averly was doing something different with the music.

A deeper dive revealed she was remixing her music with Portuguese.

Sweet is the ability to translate Portuguese from Spanish context.  Bitter is exposure to another foreign language while trying learn a foreign language.

Sabbaticals are bittersweet.