May 9
Five layers of Mays past, plus a dusting of now
1965
I forget what I did - nothing, I guess.
Comment 2023
Dear 15-year-old me,
Just wait.
Love,
73-year-old you.
1985
Tonight we finished one raised bed. With a bit of settling will be ready for planting this weekend. Tomatoes? Still a bit early. But some herbs can go in. I got a letter from a friend that reminds me just how shallow and self-centered non-parents can be. Or is it just her? At any rate, behind the reasoned discussion of children was a bit of whining about our being “distant”. Not wanting to do adult things anymore. Well, be that as it may. Ho-hum. Can’t think of an intelligent rejoinder, so I’ll just fall asleep.
Comment 2023
I am an INTJ. J = Judging, but it should be Judgey.
1987
It’s been a busy month. The semester is almost over. I’m reading novels again. Kiddo 2’s face is clearing up. Kiddo 1 is dressing herself every morning and getting herself ready for bed every night. In another week classes will be over and the hardest semester will be behind me - - Kiddo 2’s first, and my first with two children. I have a lot to, but it all seems doable.
Hurrah!
Comment 2023
Actually, the entire 1986-1987 school year was pretty tough. My pregnancy was not as smooth as my first. My mother fell into another depression and had to be hospitalized for nearly the entire fall semester. Kiddo 2, despite my extremely careful timing, arrived early, before the end of the semester, not after. (Just like Kiddo 1, but I thought that was a fluke). For most of the spring semester, I was dropping off Kiddo 1 at daycare and bringing #2 to work with me, so I could feed him. On the positive side (yes, there was one!), I was promoted to associate professor with tenure, and my first sabbatical was approved for the entire 1987-88 academic year.
Hurrah, indeed!
2003
What a very odd spring. Alternately warm/muggy and cool/rainy. The grass is greening up nicely and the pollen count is off the charts. I am settling very happily into the reality of leaving my role as faculty director of College Park Scholars - American Cultures. I will miss the sense of continuity in my students’ lives. But I will not miss the planning and coordinating role, which I have never really enjoyed. And I am looking forward to being in ONE office most of the time. I am looking forward to writing time.
I am also - sort of - looking forward Kiddo 1 moving out and moving on. I will miss her in so many ways, and worry about her (of course). But it is long past time for me to become more self reliant.
Comment 2023
Spring 2023: “Hold my beer.”
The CPS-AM assignment was my very favorite job. For seven years, I planned and ran a living-learning program for first and second year students. That meant I watched them grow from “13th graders” to rising juniors, and we got to know each other well. Usually, I only got to work with students for a single semester and then they were gone. The CPS students were my first friends on Facebook, and many of them are still in touch, sharing wedding photos and baby pictures.
At one point in those seven years, I actually had THREE campus offices, in addition to my home office.
And that last sentence: did I mean “time for her to become more self reliant”? Interesting slip, there, Mom.
2021
I just broke all the church COVID rules with a no-mask outside gathering of 13 people with shared food, and some of us used the hostess’s bathroom. Hope no one gets sick.
Comment 2023
No one did.
Current situation 2023
Spring weather still crazy, Pollen worse. Watched Kiddo 1 perform with a Balinese Gamelan last night, and also got a lot of writing and knitting done. Kiddo 1 still fabulous. Both of us amazingly self-reliant.