Good coffee at last

Today I managed to find the right formula, and the coffee was good--not too strong, not too weak. I wish I could find that magic formula with my family.

We spoke with Younger Son last night. He and his lovely wife went out to dinner for their first anniversary (Monday Nov. 5), thanks to the money we sent them. Unfortunately, they've been having house care problems. Because some drainage system wasn't maintained on their street, their basement flooded, knocking out their hot water heater and furnace. Everything is now mended, but the dank smell is bothering them both, especially her, since she has severe mold allergies. Even my son, who has no allergies, was all stuffed up in his sinuses. It's a good thing they had nothing stored in the basement (unlike us--we'd have lost quite a lot!).

I worry quite a bit about him, but because it's not a worry that I can voice comfortably in a forum that can potentially be read by others, I'll leave it there. One day he'll be on the right path for someone with his talents and interests. I just wish he knew how beautifully and intelligently he writes. He won't believe it when I tell him because he thinks that I'm required to praise him as part of the Mothering Covenant.

Today is the day that my former employer/school begins to evaluate the applications for the post I've applied to. Gee, I wonder how many days it will be before I get my polite, regretful note of rejection. There's no point in hoping that something will come of it, that's for sure.

Yesterday was not a good day for driving. I was worried about snow, sleet, and ice, but really, there was very little precipitation. The wind, on the other hand, was treating the cars on the road as if they were balls in a pinball game. Several times sudden gusts caught me by surprise. Had I not been clutching the steering wheel with both hands in my usual death grip, I could have lost control of the car, even though it is certainly a solid machine. (I confess to loving that solid thump that the door shutting makes. No tinny or hollow noises at all.)

However, I cannot blame the wind or the weather for my near-accident. The massive intellectuals who are usually in charge of street design in every city have outdone themselves in the small city where the college is located. There are one-way streets, two-, three-, and four-way stop signs placed randomly on street corners, and parallel parking up and down all the streets near the college. I've learned to gently nose out onto the street from the parking lot, trying to see enough beyond the SUVs and pickup trucks with campers that I don't get hit. Yesterday, I was easing out, looking both ways, when suddenly--the usual cliched "out of nowhere"--a speeding red truck nearly took me out. I slammed on the brakes, and he (trucks are "he," though cars are "she") swerved. Bonny Blue and I both trembled for a while, but got on our way.

I have this irrational fear that I'm going to be in a bad accident. We've had a lot of new cars in our marriage, but I've never felt quite this afraid before that I was going to be in a wreck. It's not so much the new car as it is the sense that "it's my turn." Let us hope that this does not become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Drastic change of topic: At last I have been cut off from the mother ship. Mizzou terminated my student email account. In some ways, I feel bereft. In others, I feel liberated. Hooray! Mommy is letting me ride my bike without the training wheels! (Now, if I can only get a decent tenure-track job that doesn't force me to spend $60 a week on gas driving there and back.)

Graduation is in five weeks and two days. Yahoo! Dr. S.