So much work so little time! Irene is not even on my radar screen, I am so preoccupied by the semester starting. But, I am accomplishing a lot, and doing OK. Always feels good to be super productive, even if it makes my head numb! Many details for the semester are finished, and my study is really coming along! I wanted to write an ethnography for my dissertation, but stayed with a practical program evaluation, since I was quite far along when my interest in it waned. (Because a wise mentor told me, "the only good dissertation is a done dissertation.") So now I am writing a program evaluation that is an ethnography and loving it!

My five-year-old grandniece is starting kindergarten. She's beyond excited. She's a little miracle, and not only because all kids are precious, but because of the circumstances of her birth. It's not my story to share, and so I won't. But that she is vibrant in every way is something for which we are all very thankful. She's bright - surely she will be the smartest kid in her class, healthy (the true miracle), well-behaved and good natured - and this isn't just her doting great aunt opinion's. Everyone who perceives her "mesmerizing" eyes notices. (That was the word used by a friend who has never met her, trying to describe her while gazing into her picture.)

I will see her Labor Day weekend and cannot wait to discuss it with her. My own memories of starting school are swirling around in my brain. I met my lifelong best friend the first day of kindergarten. It's true, we've been friends for 50 years, and have stayed in touch all that time. Our friendship has never wavered or died out, despite our lives being very different (but we were not that similar back then either) and we have lived about 5 hours away from each other since age 14. I'm thinking of her today because she is bringing her daughter to college for her sophomore year tomorrow, and we had toyed with the idea of getting together. But we've not confirmed it, and so I am thinking it won't happen. Her life is in the "it's complicated" category right now so a rain check might be necessary, due to Irene and other factors.