Phew! It’s been a minute…or more like months of minutes, which is well over 50 minutes, 50 hours, and 50 days, so I’m still on topic here with my blog, right?
I feel like at least 50 events have happened since I last posted in August 2023. I don’t know if I can list them all, but here are the highlights.
My daughter left our home in Oklahoma for the big city lights of Chicago. She’s a happy camper at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her dorm room window looks out onto the Chicago Theatre and the Joffrey Academy of Dance, a view that I love and wish I could have here in Okla.
My son started high school (gulp!) and is navigating everything teenage boys have to navigate. New friendships, tougher classes, crowded hallways, school lunch food, etc. He’s still growing, too, and has been clothes shopping twice since school began in August. He’s taller than I am now!
I started a new job as an instructor at the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. I enjoy the challenges of teaching good writing skills to great students who impress me with everything they do outside of school. I’m glad I don’t have to be a college-aged student anymore and appreciate everything I’ve learned in the years from then to now.
My husband, my dogs, my daughter’s pet rats, and my son’s leopard gecko are all about the same as before. It’s nice to recognize some stability, isn’t it?
I still enjoy bike rides and ventures into the garden. I ride Kermit (a.k.a. the Green Machine) to campus a couple days a week, and Heron and I roll miles across rural Oklahoma roads. My current gardening project is to kill as much Bermuda grass as possible this winter and build a healthy soil base early spring so that I can plant a zillion million native plants.
Stay tuned for more stories about Chicago (my new favorite city), parenting a high school boy, cycling, gardening, and writing. This girl never stops counting her opportunities and is eager to share more with you soon!