How are you today?

“How are you today?” my therapist asked me.

I responded with a laugh – not sure what I was laughing about.

I wasn’t sure. How am I today?

“I feel good, I guess… Busy, hot and sweaty,” I said. “Running around, dousing fires.”

“And the parking here sucks! Sorry I’m late,” I added.

It pretty much sums up how I feel. Running at full steam. It makes me tired, and sometimes requires a lot. Yet, I do it with pleasure.

This week there were many fires that required dousing. It’s good to know that I’m not alone. This is probably also why I feel quite alright.

We had a lot of problems with a heatwave and our experimental insect colonies earlier this week – colonies that would be needed for long-prepared experiments that are soon ready to start. Most insects were killed, shocked, or severely weakened. Without insects we were back to square one. It was tough, a real setback, as apparently finding the required aphids in our field sites was difficult. Monday was not a fruitful day in that regard. Nevertheless, the entire team worked together, better than ever maybe. There was no pessimism. Well, maybe I was a little pessimistic myself, but the team all had positive spirit. This revived my good spirits, too.

Over the following days, we all put our brains and ideas together, and rolled up our sleeves. Alternative solutions were found for every problem, and motivated people are apparently much better at finding insects. We found the insects we need. And it seems that we will have enough of them.

From tomorrow, we will have a newly established insect colony, or in fact four or five, up and running.

Our team work, flexibility and hard efforts may have saved our experiments after all.

And no matter how tired – that makes me feel good.

How are you today?