Spring Break

Aaahh... Spring Break. I got back from Big Rapids last night after having had conferences all day with my English 150 students. I don't know if it was the extra coffee, the lack of nutrition (okay, I did eat a protein bar), the fluorescent lighting, the conferences themselves.... but I had a headache that felt like a spiked iron band encircling my head, pulsing tighter with each beat of my heart. A couple of Tylenol later, I felt almost human again, but there for a short while, I didn't know what I wanted most: to sleep or to throw up. Happily, no vomiting occurred, and my headache went away. I feel pretty good today, too. It was warmish yesterday, and it's warm today, and it will be warm tomorrow (except with rain). There's almost no snow on the ground, and a sweater is sufficient for being outdoors. Happiness.

I have one more session of physical therapy on Monday, and then I think I'll be done. I hope I'll be done. That will be Dr. Bielema's decision when I see him on Tuesday, but John (my PT) thinks I'll be done. I still have very little strength in my left arm, but I'll just have to work at it.

Today, tomorrow, and Sunday, I'll have to finish grading so I can get midterm grades posted. Then I don't plan to do anything school-related for a few days. As I kept telling my students this past week, I don't want them to do any schoolwork for my class during spring break. I want them to R & R and come back fresh and ready to work. Of course, some of them will come back sunburned, hung over, and ready for anything except work. Given that we're flying down to Louisiana to see relatives on Thursday morning, returning Sunday, I may be even more unwilling to jump back into the fray than my students will be. I'm going to need a spring break to recover from my spring break.

There's still no word about Marty T. Frustrating. But I guess I'd hear something if she'd gotten worse rather than better.

My daughter-in-law called last night to thank us for her birthday gift. She was thrilled with her Kindle, so much so that I'm sure she'll convince me that I'll have to get one for myself eventually.

Maybe when I get back to Betty's after Spring Break, the ice on her driveway will have melted. The little "icy" icon on my dashboard stays lit from the time I turn off the road onto Betty's long driveway. The parking area is a skating rink, and the concrete steps leading up to the porch are often covered in ice. Fortunately, my sojourn at Betty's will end in a couple of months. I'm sort of looking forward to my new studio apartment. It will be fun to decorate it. I've told my husband that I'm making it into our Love Nest, our trysting spot. He drove up and had supper with me this week on Tuesday evening, so after I am living at the apartment, we can have supper there and then curl up together on the double bed. That will be some enforced intimacy since we are so used to our huge king-sized bed.

Anyway, I feel good. I feel ready for a nice break from routine.