Long hiatus

Two weeks is as long as I have gone without posting here. Been quite a few good changes and plans.

Mother in law came home last week. Physical therapy will continue, but mainly on her own, in her own home. Sleeping in her own bed. All the little things we take for granted are returned to her. Plus it is nice to see her there, and lucid, as opposed to how she was before the surgery. She came to breakfast with us (a family tradition on Saturday - at first family members and none of us but now both girls want to go every week) which she hasn't been able to do for over 4 months.

This past week was TCAP, which means standardized testing. The kids think it is the whole reason for school, and that is the impression given from all the emphasis. In fact, the test is used to measure school success (Annual Yearly Progress) under No Child Left Behind, so it IS the whole reason for school as far as the government is concerned. So we teach to the test. And the kids give up on the last 5 weeks of school as soon as that test is over. What little focus they had is lost, and my job gets progressively more difficult. At least the light at the end of the tunnel is visible (five weeks).

This Saturday, we were invited to the home of a woman that knits with my wife, for their 17th annual crawfish boil. Her husband is from Louisiana, and they do this every year. She is only allowed to add one name to her list each year, and we were the lucky ones. Great food, 300 pounds of crawfish. I had no trouble learning how to eat them...just a miniature lobster with a proportionately thinner shell. Yum.

Summer plans are sort of starting to gel. Looks like the girls are all taking a road trip to New York sometime in June. They will take the "family" car so the oldest can help with the driving, since it is an automatic. Wife's car is off limits, even to me for the 2 weeks they are gone. I mentioned I might go somewhere on my own road trip, and was told to see if I could borrow mother-in-law's car. Which also explains why the family car is not referred to as 'my' car. As has been the case for most of the summer trips, they will be gone over Father's Day. And why am I not going, you ask? A couple of reasons - first being accommodations. The woman they will stay with adores the girls and is one of my wife's longest best friends. But she doesn't care for me all too much, and two weeks, let alone 2 days would be too much. Second, I am not sure if I am ready to return to New York. I spent a long time there working, and that career, that part of my life is over. Going back would be painful in a lot of ways, remind me of too many things I have lost, or been denied to me. Better for me to try to look forward.

This being said, there is a possibility that I might take my own road trip, although not by car. I have a few people I know but have never met through some of my online gaming. We are exploring getting together in a central location, probably St. Louis for a day of rides at a Six Flags. Even though it is a 5 hour drive, I will probably fly, since the price isn't that much more than the tanks of gas it would require, plus the wear and tear on a car. But then I would have to stay over a Saturday, which means doing more than just hanging in a hotel room. Still a possibility at this point, but to my credit it is not my usual - I am pushing out of my comfort zone and being a bit more impulsive.