Thursday, July 31 - Friday, August 1

Final two days of 5:30am trips to Verona for crew. The activities this summer have been amazing, but the kids are completely wiped out. Greta has dramatic and appalling callouses across her palms and can barely stay upright past 8pm. Lucia, a pillar of energy and enthusiasm for her camp of two-year-olds, came down with a cold this week thanks to a couple of sniffly twins. They're both sad to see their crew/camp end, but it will be nice for them to have a restful August. Summer is going so fast. They've had a really great one.

I myself am emotionally pummelled because, this week, the girls and I watched the most difficult episodes of This Is Us: the fire and Jack's death. They're no easier to watch this time around. We are all very invested in the Pearson family. In Maplewood, Andrew made me watch these episodes in the basement so my reaction wouldn't upset the kids.

Work for me has gone beyond crazy into a kind of gray zone of mania. Just one more week until orientation. Don't get me wrong: I love my job and I love and need to stay as busy as possible. Next week I'll have a CA-125 test, and, right on schedule, my anxiety level is rising. I know it'll always be like this, and I also know my scan from just six weeks ago was clear and that I'm feeling great, but this anxiety isn't rational. It will have its own little camp in my brain forever, just like worry about the kids--the worry that makes them roll their eyes when I still warn them about traffic and strangers and social media and drinks they haven't ordered themselves. (Just kidding; that particular worry will kick in soon, but not quite yet.) 

A weekend of yard sales, pool, shopping, reading, plant repotting, and more is ahead.