Segments of Summer: Life Update

“We are constantly invited to be who we are.”

Well, I've been meaning to write a blog post for awhile and life keeps unfolding,  so no time like the present.  The first segment of  summer-to Memorial Day was action packed, a highlight being Madison's high school graduation, some not too hot yet weather, a new  AC unit, a bit of writing  and  turning my 3310 class into a 5 week online format  (fifteen synchronous classes on T-R) and asynchronous work on MF). 

The second segment of  summer is  teaching said class, which has been going really well. It is a fun new challenge in a class  I've taught over 30 times.  We are on Plato week  this week,  then Aristotle week, then it is over.  Homer to Aristotle in 5 weeks.  

Also in this second segment of summer: an  evolving plan to move Dad to an Independent living facility in Bellingham about ten minutes from where Christina and Kelly live.  While there is a certain suddenness to the decision, it has been developing slowly since Jeff and I were up there for Covid vacation July 2022. In the context of thinking about us spending more time up there,  Dad being in Texas came into the equation and so we did think about some options, but we sort of got back involved with life and didn't really follow up. But some seeds were planted. 

Christina and I talk rather frequently and I give her an update on Dad most weeks during the  "Waco part of the week."  He has just seemed increasingly frail over the past two to three months.  Maria and Randal both conveyed to Lenore that they were worried about his overall thriving and levels of  isolation.  "True Friend," Lenore, conveyed their worries to  me  and I conveyed that to Christina and so we started a conversation with him about when he would want to not be alone in the house.  At first, he said, "when I can't take care of myself."  I asked Dad if he'd prefer being in Waco, Austin, or Bellingham and he said he was amenable to any of the options.  Based on my 2015-2016 experience of having them in  AL in Austin,  I knew I would see him significantly less if he were in a place in Austin or  Waco.  I see him several times a day  in the "Waco part of the week"  because he's right next door. We eat dinner most Tuesday and Wednesdays and we watch a bit of TV.  A drive to some where  would mean one short visit on the days that I am in either city.  So, in all,   it seemed like a better plan to  move him to Bellingham.  That it is 106 degrees right now, seems a daunting time to move, but it is perfect up there now, so in terms of where he is going it is a great time. 

Christina looked a four places near by that are convenient for her and chose the best one and we did a Facetime tour and Dad is now looking at it as an "exciting new adventure." Though there have been definitely some other perspectives articulated.

Another interesting thing about the decision is a night or so before we really started talking about the plan in earnest,  Momzy appeared in one of my dreams.  I have never dreamed about her in the 5.5 years she has been gone.  She had been away somewhere in the dream but showed up. She didn't talk, but she had all her nice make up on and looked very shiny, almost like a China doll. So I figure it was some sort of sign.  

Here's a link to the blog Christina wrote about it

What is most sudden feeling has to do with the upcoming segment of  Summer  3.  Christina was originally going to come stay with Dad the  9th through the  16th during the two weeks that  Jeff and I will be in Italy.   Now the plan is that she will leave with Dad on the 16th which means  I will be saying good bye to him on July 3rd.  Jeff and I will spend his  55th birthday weekend up there with the pack to wrap the   3.5 years up with a final trip to Diamondbacks and a final steak on the grill.  

I truly am grateful for the extended time we have gotten to spend  together and I know I'll miss him being just down the hill and it will be sad to finish watching Madam Secretary without him.  And I am sure it will be a little lonely during the Waco part of the week for awhile.  (here's a fun photo of my Dad and high school friends at Crooks not long before he moved to Waco)

  It will be nice to have some longer segments of time over school breaks to just stay in Austin and  I'm sure once the move has happened, I'll feel a big decrease in caregiver stress.  There have been some really fun moments. This photo is from Maria's daughter's wedding reception. 

We'll be selling/giving away  some furniture and home items. Waco peeps  look for some posts on Facebook.  We'll move some stuff down here that we can use, like the aforementioned grill and his deep freezer,  and put some stuff in storage.  We've had a good three year run without a storage unit.  We were able to get rid of one that we had had since 2015  that we used to house a lot of stuff from the first time we packed up Mom and Dad.  But we have use for it again, to make some space in our house for  getting the garage in order.  One nice thing about Dad having the house, is there was room for various family heirlooms that I like looking at but don't really have room for here.  Once I got down to one office at Baylor,  I had less room for some of that stuff,  so it will also force some deciding of what stuff I really want to keep  and  it has also  already started me in on a bit of a purge of clothes I don't really wear anymore   etc. 

Christina has a friend, Brent,   who says,  "life is really just moving stuff around." 

My pre surgery clearance is on the 28th.  I plan to get the hip done right after we get back from  Italy.  In other health related news, I found out I have sleep apnea.  BP has been really good lately and the ablation I got on my spine, has really helped my pain levels (I do think the hip doctor is right that the hip is not causing all my pain)  So I feel in much better shape to handle all the travel to Europe than I have been in the past couple months.   Hip surgery and recovery will be  segment of summer four.   

and then school starts.  Jeff  will probably have to drive me upto Waco for the first three or so weeks,  so it is fortunate, that we will still have the house through then.  I'll keep renting the Lyceum and the Stoa will have a new occupant. 

One final photo. This one from a cruise well before my Austin life.

End of Semester Overall Life/Health Update

We are getting ready to leave Houston after a fantastic weekend celebrating Madison's high school graduation.  Here's a cute photo of  me, Madison, and Jeff  eating tacos at the festive before  party at Marc and Kris' house. 

It has been a very festive month.  The first weekend of the month was  Jeff's Friend's Weekend.  That has also been a nice side benefit of  marrying Jeff, getting to know all his various high school and college friends and seeing how they have stayed in touch and got together over the years.  There was some very dramatic  weather  complete with Mamary clouds that  I had  never seen.  

Jeff and I did kick off  "birthday fortnight" with a visit to Odd Duck last Saturday, courtesy of Christmas gift card from  Lenore and Henry. 

Then back to Waco for the final on Monday.  The students did a great job on their presentations on a censored book of their choice. They built the project over the course of the semester.  I am very pleased with this format of  work. It seems to promote investment and ownership in their own learning process. 

The most remarkable reads for me  were Slaughterhouse Five  and  Lolita.  Both are literary masterpieces that deal with very unsettling content  particularly Lolita  particularly in light of  all we now know about grooming, sex trafficking  #metoo.   I'm going to read more about it and its reception.  

This is the very dramatic sky last night as  Dad and I were  leaving Diamond Backs for an end of semester early birthday celebration.  

We had a good time  though the service was typically Waco-painful.  Not that Jeff and I go out to eat that much in Austin, but the overall food scene in Waco was a small, though significant, part of my decision to relocate to Austin in 2007.  

On birthday night proper, I decided Wink on the Wine Bar side  would be  good.  We had not been  since the pandemic.  And it exceeded my memories of its excellence

Anyway,  enough about food. 

 It has mostly been a fantastic semester.  I continue to love not BIC directing.   I absolutely loved teaching Philo in Lit: The Censorship Edition.    I  really enjoyed  teaching a class I had never taught before.  I'm going to teach it every spring.  Quite a few students are taking another class with me  and  several are adding a secondary major or minor.  So it feels really great to be making a difference in the department and not just efforts toward BIC.  

It has also been a particularly rich philosophy semester conference wise.  The APA in Montreal was fun. Caitlin and I gave a paper on Plato, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien for the Teaching Hub and we now have it submitted to a journal.  Also  a real high point was  seeing  Duane Davis, fellow Penn Stater.   

The following month,  I  did my first poster session ever  at  AACU in New Orleans.  zWe had a fantastic time,  caught a bit of  Mardi Gras,  stayed in the Ritz  

and also  caught up with Becky Lloyd from Iyengar Land.  

 I really enjoyed  the North Texas Philosophical  Association at the end of March 

Here's me and Kristi Sweet sharing the philosophical love. 

and the APS  was truly glorious. 

I should write a whole post about APS  and maybe I will, but one funny part was how younger scholars were so  impressed that I was a student of  Stanley Rosen.  I knew him IRL  and they know him through books. My student Juilana gave a fabulous paper and it was just wonderful catching up with so many of my heart philosophy folks.   I also got to see  family friends  Bob and Janet  Yinger and  Bella   as an added bonus. 

Caitlin and I got our paper submitted to  a journal and I've got two other  articles in the pipeline for publication.  I've not made as much progress on the book as would be optimal, but  I have given a lot of thought to overall shape and scope and have done a good bit of  secondary lit work. 

So grades are submitted and I'm looking forward to a bit of  down time before  Summer I  begins.   I'm teaching an online version of   Classical for the first time.  A  compressed romp through the presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle.   

Anyway, the professional  stream of my life  is  wonderful. 

On the domestic front,  we have gotten a new fancy air conditioning unit  and are dealing with  a stressful situation getting a mistake on our house appraisal fixed.   The dogs are good and Jeff has started a new venture with growing cordyceps. 

 Health wise  there have been some challenges. My back and hip are still pretty painful on a daily level.   I have decided to get my hip replaced.  I'll do it in July after  we get back from Italy.  I'm in the process of  getting the pre-surgery stuff  scheduled.  Heart seems okay. Blood pressure meds are working. Cholesterol coming down very slowly.  Went back to cardiologist for a check up and mentioned extreme tiredness. He said that sounds like sleep apnea so I got tested for sleep apnea. Got to wear a finger/chest monitor for a couple nights.  It turns out  I have in mild level at  non REM  and moderate level at  REM.  So am starting  treatment process for that.  I am not thinking any of the devices are really going to help my overall sleep experience, but it would be nice to be less tired in the morning.  

I have been listening to Sherry Turkle's book about the lost art of conversation in the digital age  so I've been making a conscious effort to not be on my phone  when I'm  around others.  She also makes the point that our  curated online life is typically a  "best version"  of our life.   I suppose that is  true, but to a degree  I don't think that is a bad thing.  It seems to follow the Momzy dictum of  "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."   Also,  to me  it is a good reminder of dwelling on the positive.

March Update