I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last blog post. There are reasons for that. First, last fall, about the time I fell off the blogging wagon, was when I had eye surgery. Then some really scary stuff happened that I wasn't sure I wanted to talk about. I have no idea who reads this blog. I have no idea why they do, if they do read it. I like to stay positive, and from October - December, trying to think positive became my other full time job, and I just wasn't ready to talk about it. Heck, I'm not sure I want to talk about it now, but now that I've got this great suspense built up, I might as well tell those that don't know - I spent 8 weeks wondering if I had ovarian cancer. I didn't, thank God. But going through an extremely busy semester wondering if a mystery mass that is the size of a grapefruit means that you have a cancer with a 10-15% survival rate is pure hell. Pure. Unadulterated. Hell. And it was hell on my closest friends and family that knew. So I wasn't ready to share that until now. But, we are all on the other side now, whole, happy, and healthy. Thank God.
So, spring was spent kinda taking it easy. Summer has flown by. Ian started pre-school! Pre-school! His first day was harder for me than him, that's for sure. His last day with Sarah was incredibly hard for me, surprisingly. He had been going to her since he was 6 weeks old! Her family had become an extended part of our family. Then I had to remind myself that it wasn't like they were moving. We live 1.5 miles away from each other. Play dates will happen! Fortunately, Ian LOVES school. I can't ask fro more than that. Dave is doing well. Life is good.
The highlight of our summer was a trip to Jamaica. It was our first vacation that didn't involve visiting family in 5 years. It was cathartic. That sounds stupid and melodramatic, but it was. I had been thinking about the fall semester, which is always nuts, only this time I have 86 people, not 70 in A&P and I'm teaching toxicology for the first time ever. Oh yeah, and I'm going up for tenure and this year I will probably switch my research model. So, you know, a few irons in the fire. And, like usual, I was worried about how to do all this and keep my sanity. But if last fall taught me anything, it's that life is way too short to spend all of it stressed out. Jamaica taught me that cocktail hour before dinner is a good idea. Even if there's no alcohol involved, taking a few minutes to relax before dinner and talk a little about the day is nice. Or don't talk. Just take a few minutes and unwind. This summer I started singing in Sacred Heart's gospel choir. It's a once a week committment that is all for me. It's fun. It's hilarious. It's not taking yourself so seriously. And no matter how busy this fall is, I will continue to go because it makes me happy.
So this semester, I am determined. I am determined that I will not pass up a fun opportunity to spend time with Dave and Ian in favor of getting just one more thing done at work, if I can help it. Even if there are things piling up, I will take care of me. I will eat well. I will sleep at night. I will keep a sense of humor. Lab meetings might be at the bar occasionally because the only time everyone was available was 4pm on Friday's. And that's 5:00 EST. I'm going to take a page from a prof at UA who always said "Work hard, play hard, sleep well." And I'm going to blog. Because it makes me happy too, even if I have no idea if anyone's reading. I guess that's like the "dance like no one's watching" thing - blog like no one's reading? Anyway, it's a new fall, a different way of thinking, and a lot to be thankful for.
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