August 17

Happy New Year!

1966 (en route from Mexico to Connecticut)

“Two more days will do it”, alright. Today from 6:30 Am to 10:30 PM, to Bristol, VA. Tomorrow all the way home, at 2 AM or so.

I slept half the trip.

I hope Juan answered my letter. I don’t know if I love him, but I sure do miss him.

1967 (York Beach, New Hampshire)

Ho, ho, ho. Anything but dull.

1) I lost (gained?) a day, by spending all day Tuesday thinking it was Wednesday.

2)The sun finally came out on Monday and had been out every day since.

3) We went deep-sea fishing on Tuesday. I caught seven sharks and Marcia caught 6. I felt pretty queasy, but managed not to throw up. No so fortunate were Chris, Brian, and Billy. So they paid $7 for a day spent throwing up. 

1978 (MD)

Vacation is officially over! It was a good summer, I think. Certainly eventful. Today is a stinker-to-be. I plan to leave Marley inside, hoping she has the smarts to relax in the air conditioning. I am well along with my lecture notes, almost to the oral reports, in fact.

Perhaps I should think about a plan for this fall. (Other than survival.)

1979 (MD)

Boy, I feel ready to lick the world! The college meeting yesterday got me charged up, somehow. Talking to new graduate students was both tiring and invigorating. Perhaps reminds me of how far I have really come. C, who has just come here from Syracuse, is about where I was five (only five?) years ago. Even the recession is back!

But I am excited about the semester. I will get the work done! Period! Not one task has an unreasonable deadline, and I have have less to do than in recent years. I can feel the blood coursing through my veins - - whoosh!

Well, time to divert this energy to work.

1981

I half expected to wake up and change my mind. But I didn’t. Everything looks and feels different to me. After it took so many years to decide, the decision feels right. All we need now is a baby. A BABY. I wonder how everyone will react. I wonder how we will react!

1984

Poor sweetie! She is getting her last molar and really feels miserable. A s result, we didn’t make it to Diane’s farewell party. She really let me know - - crying and throwing herself on the sofa - - that she wanted to go to sleep, not to a party. Momentary panic. Then we just stayed home. Frankly, I really didn’t want to go, either. The goodbyes have gone on long enough.

Oh, and Bob and Bonnie have a son: Nathan James. Naomi, I hear, is not impressed.

2023

August 17 was the date every year when my contract started at the university. As you can tell from all my mid-August posts, there was an element of New Year’s Day about it. For most of my life, January 1 has felt like the middle of the year, not the beginning. Between kindergarten and retirement, I only had three years that were not organized around the academic year! Even now, six years later, I still have that sense of anticipation. Happy New Year!