Hello Yes I Am Here
Lucy is doing really well, and Eve is home, and work has been quite enjoyable. I have also been feeling like I am teetering at the edge of a giant sucking depression vortex. I knew that some kind of emotional backlash was likely after the intense two weeks alone with Lucy recovering. At this point I am kind of viewing the cyclical depression thing as a bout of the flu or a spate of bad weather. Rest, fluids, raincoat, galoshes (?)
Anyway, I have sat down to blog a few times and been repelled from the computer by some kind of magnetic force field. Let me list some good things that happened.
Nicole's fabulous ass was IN MY KITCHEN CHAIR FOR AN ENTIRE AFTERNOON. Except when it was helping me do a rehab walk with Lucy. It was so lovely. We talked and talked, over and under each other, we laughed, we ate guacamole and Macintosh apples, she snuggled Lucy, who was as besotted with her as I am. When she texted that she was on her way I texted that I was just making guacamole. My phone dinged with a notification and it said "Nicole removed a heart from 'just making guacamole', and I was like dude, it's fine if you're not hungry. It was actually a car-texting mistake, but it was very funny. We also Facetimed Eve, who was coming home two days later so just missed meeting Nicole.
Eve came home! Matt drove down Saturday and brought her back Sunday. I let Lucy sleep in bed with me for the first time Saturday night and she was so happy, but at one point she went to jump off the bed and I literally caught her mid-leap. She is not supposed to be jumping on and off furniture yet. We are trying to catch her and lift her up and down. This has been, predictably, a bit of a shitshow. She is small and crafty. We are hoping that preventing her from jumping eighty percent of the time will be enough. She is walking pretty well on the leg most of the time, but Jesus, she is shortening my life on the daily. A funny adorable thing that happens is that when I put out the blanket for her massage now (we're supposed the massage the leg and do passive range-of-motion exercises a few times a day) she comes over and flops down immediately. This may be part of a lifestyle to which she is now accustomed). It is much more fun doing doggie rehab with an extra person to help.
Eve's marks have been rolling in. We had talked extensively about the fact that doing the musical would almost certainly have an impact on her marks. As exams drew near she confessed that when she said "I don't care about my marks" she really meant "I'll be okay with a B" and now it was looking like even Bs might not happen and she wasn't that okay with it. In organic chemistry this did turn out to be the case - C+, her lowest mark ever. I said "so what? Do you want to be an organic chemist?" She said no. She also never has to take chemistry again. She got over it fairly quickly, especially when her tech mark came in and was an A-, an absolute shock since she wrote the 'worst paper ever' while in the middle of tech week (five-hour rehearsal every day) for the musical, and thought the exam went pretty badly too. In her Lit course and Visual Culture she got A pluses, so the term average was totally fine. I think the musical experience was totally worth it.
My friend Sonia gave me some tea tins, and I reorganized my tea shelf. I know this is a very small thing, but I took Lucy for her walk a few days ago and then instead of retreating to my room to brood I did kitchen stuff and then did yoga before showering, so I brooded while stretched AND clean.
Yesterday was the Broadview Book Bonanza (giant book sale at my Thursday school) and I got some great books for the library and for my book-overflowing house. I will show and tell the books tomorrow, or definitely before a week and a half goes by.
Comments
Organic chemistry is one of the hardest classes ever, and passing it AT ALL is 100% success. I cannot overemphasize this. I am related to a college-level chemistry teacher, and I asked him why, WHY, organic chemistry is SO DIFFICULT (I have never taken it, but I had a college roommate who switched from a chemistry major to a psychology major solely on the outcome of an organic chemistry class, and she was an ULTRA-SMARTIE who did VERY WELL in chemistry and also LOVED chemistry), and anyway he was like "It just IS. It is just one of the hardest things." He is IN THE FIELD OF CHEMISTRY and still found organic chemistry very, very difficult. He said it's like the bar exam, where even if you're in the right field for you, you still might have to take it more than once to pass it.
I like the idea of the depressive moods as regular bouts of illness. I had a teacher in high school who had chronic mono, and sometimes she was fine and other times she could barely sit in her chair. It's like that, but with moods. I'm down with this allegory.
Orgo ACK. I think it is fantastic that Eve even got a C+. Orgo is HARD. I looooooved chemistry in high school and was deterred from taking it in college, and then my roommate was pre-med and took orgo and it nearly killed her. So Eve is doing pretty freaking well. Especially if she is also getting A+s?!?!?! Go Eve.
So glad Lucy is doing well, although keeping a dog calm and still sounds impossible. And I love your neat and tidy tea shelf.
I too have had the magnetic repulsion feeling from my computer lately. No fun. I'm glad you posted.
Small and crafty - such a good description of Lucy. I cannot imagine trying to keep up with her and predict when she is going to jump from something. 've
I've had similar conversations with Mini - well, and Tank probably, come to think of it. But Tank got over an undesirable grade a lot faster than Mini. Mini took a bad grade to heart and I was like, It's not like you aren't going to get a job and your grades are always great, so big whoop. This one isn't an A, but it is still not a terrible grade. These things take time, apparently . . . which makes me wonder if Mini and I are actually related, but then - she does look just like me.
Oh, and I agree - I think the experience of the musical was totally worth it. I love that she did that.
Galoshes. Way to be prepared. ;)
What are Eve's summer plans? North's going to be away (counselor at Girl Scout camp) for much of the summer and I am having feelings about it.
I'm also super glad Lucy is starting to feel better. It's so hard that we can't explain to our dog friends that medical things are good for them.