Big Excitement!

September 6, 2015 – Big Excitement!

We’ve had some exciting days, and one exciting night.  Let’s start with the nighttime excitement:  It was the middle of last week.  The night was quiet and calm – no rain, no wind, not even a gentle breeze.  Elliott had already gone to bed and I was sitting in the living room, reading.  Out of nowhere came a series of gigantic crashes at the back of the house.  I ran to the family room, looked out into the darkness and saw leaves and branches pressed right up against the windows.  Immediately, I went onto the deck to investigate.  It looked like a tree had fallen over, which seemed bizarre, given the absence of windy or rainy conditions.  When I went out into the yard with a flashlight, I discovered that an enormous limb had broken off the tallest of our towering oaks.  Fortunately, the structure of the house seemed to be intact.  The only real damage was minor, i.e. a couple of torn window screens.  What a relief!   

And now for the rest of the exciting recent happenings:

  

For Elliott, the excitement was finding a solution to his pain problem.  As I’ve mentioned before, this summer had been a difficult time for him due to nearly constant pain that was increasing in severity.  It impacted his quality of life and his outlook had become very negative.  Elliott’s doctor was hesitant to increase the strength of his pain medication because of possible side effects.  But we were desperate to give him some relief and I urged Elliott to make another appointment.  Finally, last Friday, we convinced the doctor to prescribe a stronger dosage of Elliott’s pain med on a two-week trial basis.  And, guess what?  It worked!  Elliott noticed an immediate and drastic reduction in his pain, and I’m thrilled to report that the old cheerful Elliott is back in action.  We’re being vigilant about watching for side effects, but all seems fine for now. 

As for me, although I’m retired from my teaching job, the academic calendar still structures my life to a large extent.  There’s something about the beginning of a new school year that signals new beginnings in general.  Every year, by mid-August, my excitement level starts rising.  I’m eager to see my teaching colleagues (both those still working and those who have retired).  When we’re together, we talk about the new problems teachers are facing (which sound a lot like the old problems I faced) and we reminisce about past dramas and comedies that played out in the classroom and with the administration.  Lunch this past week with my AHS ESOL pals reminded me that some things never change.  Do I miss teaching?  Less and less each year.  However, I’ve already put one sub day on the calendar for early October. 

My focus now is on being a student, and the fall semester at George Mason University is already underway.  I registered for three classes, but will only be able to find time to attend two of them: Contemporary Art and Jazz.  In the art history class, we spent most of our class time last week in thought-provoking discussions, trying to decide what contemporary art is.  I look forward to doing lots of viewing and reading as we tackle this hard-to-define topic.  I’m especially excited about the jazz class, which is taught by Darden Purcell, a noted jazz vocalist.  I like jazz (at least, I like some jazz), but I freely confess my ignorance about the subject.  Fortunately, I have five years of serious classical piano study in my background to help me understand some of the music theory.  Now, through lectures, reading, and listening, I’m learning about blue notes, chord progressions, and the role of improvisation.  I am totally in awe of musicians who can sit down with an instrument and improvise.  My goal is to be able to do a little improvisation myself by the time the semester ends!

The major excitement in our lives comes from our little granddaughter.  For Sylvie, every single day is full of discoveries and new experiences.  It’s amazing how she’s grown and developed in the past seven and a half weeks.  I am so grateful to Elisa and Christian for sharing Sylvie’s world through their wonderful blog, The Big Adventures of Little Sylvie.  We look forward to introducing Sylvie to Grandpa Elliott in person very soon.  

Elliott looking at a recent Sylvie photo