It's been a while

It has been a while, my friends.
First off, I realized that I had never provided an update on my job (which I attempted to quit, quite unsuccessfully, back in August). Last I mentioned, they were hiring my replacement to start in early January. And since I'm still showing up bright and early 3 days a week, it is evident that things didn't go as planned. Back in December they realized they hadn't yet found what they were looking for and they asked me to continue part-time through the end of the spring semester. In the meantime, I've already starting taking on tutoring clients (which was going to supplement our income when I was no longer expecting to be making a salary after January) so in my attempt to work less - I am instead working slightly more. Intriguing.

I upgraded to an iPhone. I used to joke with my dad (who has had one for some time) that you could just say "iPhone, find me some ice cream" and it would do that. Turns out, that is not too far from the truth.

Mom is doing great. The Gamma Knife procedure (to zap the two tumors that recurred in her brain) represented everything that is good and right and mind-blowingly-amazing with science/medicine/technology. Lola and I have been in Atlanta since Tuesday night and mom is feeling great. We have gone on walks, taught Lola some new tricks, and just enjoyed hanging around the house. We'll know more about how things went in 6 months when they do a follow-up scan.

Lola enjoyed plenty of love and visits from our Atlanta friends and family while we were here. She showed off her clapping, crawling, pulling up, "walking" with assistance, and playing "so big." She's also building quite a repertoire of sounds that sound like words. (It might be a stretch to call them words . . . but she definitely seems to understand the meaning and I know what she is saying - and isn't that all that really matters?)

We head back to Greenville tonight and look forward to returning to our somewhat normal schedule.