I miss summer already

Summer is officially over and you can tell because there's been a two-week silence on this blog, mostly due to the fact that I haven't had a chance to sit here with some leisure to post pictures and update you on what's been going on. And there's been a lot going on, let me tell you.

For one, my parents arrived into Ohio on Aug. 17 and I picked them up at the airport hotel the following day to bring them to our new house where they planned a three-week visit. Those plans changed when, on the 18th, my mom had a "transient ischemic attack" (or a temporary stroke), which scared the bejeezus out of all of us, including her. We had finished a nice lunch at the cafe in my small college on the hill when my mom started feeling odd as her left side became numb. We rushed her to the nearby health center (blessed be small college towns!) and a few minutes later the emergency squad was there to take her to the nearby hospital (blessed be small towns!).

She spent the night and most of the following day at the hospital but, other than not being able to sleep very well because of all the interruptions of nurses coming in and out and calling each other through the intercom system, she had a very good experience there. Everyone was nice and professional and they even had a menu so she could choose her meals. "This is definitely the first world," my mom said, having become an unwilling connoisseur of hospitals not through any illness of her own but through me, my father and other family members.

In my book, all is well that ends well, and my mom was released and recovered quickly but decided that she wanted to stay longer with us to have tests done and get follow up from a cardiologist (the mini-stroke was due to untreated hypertension) before they embark on the complicated trek back to their home. Right now, they don't have a specific date for return in mind, since my mom will be having a battery of tests done on Monday and then will see the cardiologist again in early September.

For my husband and me it's a relief to have them both here instead of thousands of miles away and we're happy to be able to offer them a comfortable, spacious place for them to have the first nearly worry-free time they've had this year.

Lizzy has taken a shine to my dad, who insists that she has the makings of a scholar because she likes to nuzzle his hand when he's reading. My husband and I think he's being grandfatherly optimistic since Lizzy doesn't give many signs that she's of the intellectual persuasion. She's more of a jock, I would say, especially because of her love of running at full speed in the yard with no rhyme or reason, and her love of chasing balls and toys and tearing things apart.

Meanwhile, Magellan and Darwin simply love living here and don't seem to pay much attention to my parents, except Darwin who will occasionally approach my mom for some petting.

As for me, I just had a full week of school-related meetings and activities and today will meet my first-year advisees to go over their schedules for this semester. Classes begin next week and I'm almost ready in terms of what I need to get done but not ready at all in terms of animus.

Even with its ups and downs, this was the best summer in recent memory and I regret that it must come to an end. But I do look forward to whatever new insights and learning this new teaching time will bring, and I am glad I get to share a few more weeks (months?) with my parents.

Goodbye summer, I sorely miss you already!