Being on the downward spiral is like going downhill on a sled. You get momentum, you go faster and faster, you end up at the base of the hill. You curse your luck in not going into the road, which borders the sledding area, because if you had, you’d be dead. Death, such that it is, absolves you of all responsibility.

But there you are, at the bottom of the hill. You now have to climb back up it. This is hard work. This is the upward spiral. If you make it to the top of the hill, and this is a big if, you will be jubilant.
This is my mood-related upward and downward spiral analogy.

The past two days I was definitely spiraling downward. It wasn’t exactly a joyride, but as it always is, it was easy to become increasingly more depressed. In fact, I was so depressed yesterday that I could not think as to what I needed to get done at the hotel. So I cleaned books.

Colony Middle School roll out

I paid the price today because I’d fallen behind. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and did what had to be done. And fortunately, I was able to remember what it was that I needed to do.

Pete and our neighbor Sebastian were to first go and drop off a bookcase made by the Technical and Vocational High School Students. Knowing this, I got the books ready for them to take with them. I simply pulled five boxes off the horizontal shelves marked Junior High, put them on the cart, and passed them on when the boys showed up.

I felt a certain sense of satisfaction in having done this so quickly and efficiently. This sense of self-satisfaction put me on the upward spiral, as did having lengthy conversations with Hillary, a good friend who came to clean books, and Jessie, who came to drop books off.

The cleaning table continues (as it was at the Meeting House) to be a source of good conversation and comradery. And for me, when people aren’t present, cleaning books at this site is a source of meditation. And I’m planning on keeping it this way.

Pete and Sebastian came back and took the tricycle bicycle back to its owner. The seat had been raised for Steve, who rode it in the Alaska State Fair Parade. I rode it around the warehouse this afternoon and figured out that if it had been lowered slightly instead of all the way down, I would have been able to ride it in the parade.

Before leaving Pete and Sebastian pulled ten military history books down off the topmost shelves. Me, I reboxed them so we can keep our banker boxes. They’re going to the Veterans Museum in Anchorage.

All day, between things, I cleaned books. The place looked good when I took off to go distributing.

I came home and rode Raudi. I can’t say that I am now at the top of the spiral. Rather, I’m at the midway point. I don’t know which way I’ll go tomorrow. Only time will tell.

Next: 261. 9/23/23: Under the Weather