February 2

I have plenty to do without adding more to the pile. Silly me.

1965

Boy, was I sick today! My temperature was 102 so I had to stay home - but I wasn't alone! T stayed home, too! I slept a lot and it was anything but fun. I missed a lot of work, and still don't have my books home. We have an exposition to write in English and I don't even know what it is! Boo hoo! I have a sore throat and everybody's calling up and yakking for hours. I hope I get to go back tomorrow - Report Cards!

Comment 2006

Staying home sick was a real challenge in our household. Mom was a nurse and impossible to con with fake coughs, thermometers held over the stove and other clever ploys. When I was little, staying home meant opening up the green convertible couch and watching game shows, old movies and cartoons all day. By 1965, the green couch was long gone, and the only place for an invalid to sack out was in bed.

Comment 2023

The last few times I have been sick enough to stay in bed (a thankfully rare occurrence), audiobooks have kept me company. My soother of choice is Jane Austen - I have all six of her novels narrated by various British women. If I just need a few hours of rest, Emma is perfect, at under six and a half hours. If I really need to conk out, my least favorite Austen , Mansfield Park, gives me fifteen hours and fifteen minutes of tedium. That’s unfair; when I am well, the Crawfords and Aunt Norris are the delightfully horrible counterbalance to the bland, timid “heroine”, Fanny Price. For anyone desirous of adopting my sick day practice, here are my other recommendations:

Emma (6 h, 22 m) Perfect for sleeping in when waking up with a headache (sinus or hangover, especially.)

Northanger Abbey (8 h 17m) Too funny to sleep through. This is my choice for bouts of sciatica.

Persuasion (8 h 13 m) Slipping in and out of consciousness but never completely under? This subtle yet powerful story is the only one that reaches my subconscious.

Pride and Prejudice (11 h 58 m) Since this is the one I could recite in my sleep, it’s my go-to when I am bone tired, but my mind is still bouncing around. Usually I am out before Kitty starts to cough.

Sense and Sensibility (12 h 52 m) Same as Pride and Prejudice, but good when I want to dream about Alan Rickman.

1981

Groundhog Day. Very warm and rainy, but expected to drop 3-40 degrees tonight. The bulbs I planted in the fall must we thoroughly confused by now.

The weekend was spent getting the place in shape. I felt very good, managed to do a couple of sewing projects, lots of planning. No actual cleaning. (That’s ‘cause we don’t like it.) I still have not learned to be realistic about my daily plans. Such a stupe. I keep thinking about writing, for example. Not likely!

1978

Ten years ago last night, Jim and I fell in love. Or at least said it out loud, first to each other, and then to to frozen city of Syracuse, shouting it from the porch of the SU law school.It was almost magical, like something out of a movie. Marcel Marceau was capering around the stage, miming his delight at plucking the last petal from an invisible daisy. Every gesture and facial expression said “She loves me!!” We turned to each other, and smiled. Jims said, “Yes?” And the only possible answer was “Yes!”

1/31/68

Wild frozen night,
So warm in memory.
We laughed with joy.
“I love you!”
Oh, wow.

Our love is quieter now.
But still I think,
Oh, wow.

1979

Jim’s brother left this morning after a short visit. He stayed with us and attended meetings downtown. Last night we attended the Grant Kabuki at the Kennedy Center and then to the Big Cheese, which was a fine restaurant. I am feeling unsettled, as usual, after having company. It throws my precious schedule off. So today (Saturday) I did nothing, beyond making an attempt to find Mom a birthday present and taking a nap. Now I feel like doing some work tonight —- sort of. It’s quiz time for the class, which is behaving badly and doing the readings.

Comment 2024

I cannot resist cheese.

1982

Another busy week, though not as bad as the last one. The semester is getting into a routine of sorts. The graduate class makes me very busy. And the weather has kept me in when I should be going to the library.

On the baby front, things are going well. I feel very fit, the baby is moving vigorously, and a long talk with the doctor put my mind at ease about their approach to labor and delivery. I am willing to go along with whatever measures are needed to produce a healthy baby, but I don’t want to be treated like a critical “worst case” unless that is actually the case.

Imagining how I would feel about a boy or a girl is making me examine my own feelings about being female and living in our society. If it’s a daughter, I hope things can be better for her. It looks like the baby will be born the year the ERA was defeated. Will that close the doors that are just now so slightly open?

Comment 2024

It’s hard to believe, but in 1982 a nearly 33-year old first time mother was considered “at risk”. Shout out to all the other “elderly primigravidas” out there. The cut-off is now 35.

I wish it were also hard to believe that the progress made in the 1970s isn’t under threat today.

1993

(Last page of the notebook)

This must be a record for teeny notebooks: 80 pages in just over four years. Well, there were some intriguing gaps, weren’t there?

1997

This week’s excursion should be a furnishings store, to see what I love. I fail to see how lusting after material things promotes “Simple Abundance”. I like the stuff I have.

1998

Yesterday was equally busy. The semester (and life) are caving in much too early in the term. Part of the problem is that Winterterm kept me from preparing for the spring semester as well as I’d like. After all, the beginning of the fall term I managed to get things battened down, and the family into a routine, which lasted well into the holidays. In fact, most of the mess dates back to the week or so after Christmas.

Well, I’ll just have to dig out again. I am slowly getting into a routine again, which is good.

The main task this week is calendar control. I need to lose that vague sense of discomfort that comes from not knowing what day it is, or what I have to do, or when.

2004

A very good weekend. Good times with Kiddo 1, got some work done, deleted some potential projects. I didn’t need to respond to that call for papers. I have plenty to do without adding more to the pile. Silly me.

2009

2025

That’s still a pretty accurate description of Riderwood Village. Our floor, at least.