Month: November 2015

Edda’s straight A certificate.  Boo ya.  Vince found it on the kitchen table and told Edda – you are making me look bad.

We ran the minivan down to its (almost) last drop of fuel.

While we were filling up at the gas station, Jeremy showed me some graphs.

And he let Maxi drive the van.

Jeremy took me out for date night last night.  We did not celebrate alone.  Jeremy was hosting a happy hour for a co-worker who is leaving UCS, so I went and joined in on the festivities.  We had drinks at the Science Club (which is a a bar) and its ode to science was the beat-up old periodic table on the wall and drinks served in test tubes / beakers.  It’s interesting to go to dinner with Jeremy and a person who he knows well and who I don’t know very well.  Something about that really makes me look at Jeremy, as he’s talking, in a new light.  I look at the way he gestures and talks and I try to see them for the first time again.  To try and remember if those same gestures and mannerisms were there when he was 27 and I first met him.  Mainly, I look at him and see all the grey hairs and wrinkles and think – wow, we really are growing old together.

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I went to lunch today with a good friend of mine.  Is it OK to be good friends with someone that you only see/talk to every 6 months?  Really, we’ve tried to schedule this lunch for months.   Ethiopian food shared.  I like talking to this particular person about religion and God.  As I grow older, I’m starting to envy people who believe in God.  I would like to believe – what comfort would that be! – but I know I will never.  Well, maybe I will in 20 years.  I’m believe in so many things now that I thought I’d never believe when I was 20.  Who knows what I will believe when I’m 60.

Took my parents out mid-day to Japanese food and to see the Martian. They got to try tempura and stadium seating.  Nice!  Matt Damon – dreamy and age-appropriate for me – though not so dreamy in this scene.

Vince made dinner last night, asked Keyla if it needed more salt.

Louisa is learning how to knit and mailed Vince this adorable hat!

Late Saturday afternoon, we went to Boba’s house for an early Thanksgiving.  Turns out that Boba is a great host!  (well, ok, Boba’s parents).  There was a lot of wonderful food and very nice people hanging out.

We had finished eating and socializing and I went down to the basement to get Vince.  Thu (Boba’s mom) is ten years younger than me, so all of her friends have kids that are ten years younger than my kids.  I leaned over to Vince and whispered that we were ready to go and Vince looked up at me and said – but I’m waiting to get a balloon!  I was like, really?  And he said yeah, totally.  But I gotta wait for all the three year olds to get theirs first.  Ha ha ha…

I went to a scholarship luncheon on Friday.  I got a scholarship this fall which covered about 40% of my tuition which was a wonderful surprise.  I always think I’m at the bottom of the list no matter how good my grades (which, to my tiger-daughter dismay, are not all As) are because I’ve already got a BS, I’m going part time and I have much less financial need than a lot of the other applicants.  The lunch was planned and catered by the hospitality students at the UMD Eastern Shore – that was impressive as well.  It was a buffet lunch and it was quite good given how those things usually go.

On Saturday, Jeremy and I played the – if we had a bazillion dollars and didn’t have to work game – and talked about what we’d buy, where we’d live, what we’d do.  If it happened tomorrow and the kids were still in school, we’d just hire a house person who would take care of all the house things – the kaput dryer, the non-draining deck, the mold growing within the double paned windows, the car oil changes, the growing puddle in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator, the invasive species taking over our lawn, etc.  But if we really had a bazillion dollars, I’d love to be able to give full scholarships to folks who are first in their family to go to college.  At the scholarship luncheon, a few students who got the full ride scholarship got up to talk about how much it meant to them.  A lot of tough situations, a lot of hard work – getting weepy about being able to become and accountant or special needs teacher.  It’s hard to think of other things which have a greater return on investment.

Jeremy and I took Maxi to Sugarloaf Mountain on Saturday for a hike.  The kids were occupied elsewhere.  We didn’t take Ruby because, for the first time, we thought she wouldn’t be able to keep up.  I can play favorites with the dogs, I will admit that Ruby does lots of things without Maxi because Ruby is better behaved and easier to manage.   But Maxi did well on this hike, she clamored up rocks and went over ravines, only growled at one other dog.  We stopped off at a farm stand to get some apples and I threw Maxi an apple core which she usually devours.  But this time, she licked it and then ignored it.  I glared at her – Max!  You only eat apple cores because you don’t want Ruby to have it.  Such a younger sibling…  Ha!

One of the most fun things about going to nursing school is that I get to hang out with people who were born the year I graduated from college. I got invited to a “paint nite” 21st birthday party – a party at a restaurant where a company sets up easels in one of the party rooms and and supplies paints and brushes and there is an instructor to teach you how to paint a certain picture.  You order drinks and food from the restaurant.  This is probably the most respectable 21st birthday party I’ve ever been to. It’s probably been a good decade or so since I’ve been to one.  (Emy – remember yours?  epic.  sigh. – pre-blog – oh well.)

I’m the oldest one in this photo – although there are a few other women who are within a few years of me.  Of the women in this photo who have kids, Vince isn’t the oldest one.  Do not let anyone tell you that millenianals are entitled or not hard working.  These folks are the most hard working, earnest, fun people around.  The health care field will move in the right direction because of the work these women will do.  I learn so much from them *all* the time.  I’m lucky to call them my friends and future colleagues.