Just when you’ve worn a new pretty frock from Bali to the European Film Festival …
Just when you’ve enjoyed a splurge of a dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant with a splendid glass of red wine …
Just when you’ve closed the cover of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and sat reflecting on the horror and beauty of the prose …
Just when you’ve batted the ball around with your tennis coach at a rented court …
Just when you’ve spent a few hours holed up in your study with the air conditioner cranked, lost in Facebook …
Just when you’ve practiced your lines for the brilliant radio play “Under Milkwood” by Dylan Thomas, which you’re performing next week …
Just when you’ve shelled out a fortune for a haircut in a swanky salon …
Just when you’ve downloaded new music from iTunes …
… just when you trick yourself into thinking you live in a world of Western conveniences and culture, you step out into your yard to find the remains of a primitive-looking fish kebab. With tiny sharp teeth, fat gray scales and ant-filled eye sockets, the fish seemed to say, “Ha! Where do you think you are? New York City?”

Most likely, it was our night guard’s dinner, but as a Pisces, I can only interpret this fish as a sign.

With five weeks to go before summer vacation … before I can head home to cooler temperatures, cuddles with my nephews, dinners with my parents, views of the lake, Michigan four-berry pie, visits from friends and family, neighbors who speak English, Sunday newspapers, shady bike trails, crispy bacon, sprawling book stores, and everything else we miss during the school year … with just five weeks to go, that fish is telling me not to wish away my time but to embrace those things I love here and to acknowledge that I am one of the lucky ones.