TGIF

Conducting a committee meeting is confusing. Maybe if there'd been more than four of us (counting me!), we'd have gotten more done. As it was, one of the people there is a take-charge type, and she talked the whole time. I don't feel that I conducted the meeting as much as that I sat at the head of the table while RC talked. So much for all the work I'd put into preparing for it. Dang it. Oh, well.

My department chair has worked it so that I'll get to teach an Introduction to Women's Studies course next Spring. That will be fun. What I'm not looking forward to as much is teaching Advanced Comp for Pharmacy Students.

Tuesday night we had the dinner for those of us who are not yet tenured. The host lives at the end of this unmarked dirt road, so it took a while to find his house. While we were there, three deer came up and ate corn he'd sprinkled on the ground. So I think it's safe to say that the entertainment surpassed the food. I'm just not a peanut chicken and cous-cous lover. I'm also not a wine drinker when I'm going to be driving, but that didn't slow down the others (all women except for the host and one guy who doesn't have a driver's license). I drove the unlicensed guy home. He'd taken a cab there, so I'm sure he appreciated saving the money. He lives very near Betty, so it wasn't a problem. Actually, I was interested to find that he lives in a cute little duplex. I wish I'd known those duplexes existed. I might have rented one of them instead of the studio. But the studio is all I need.

I also volunteered to run the Faculty Colloquium series next year. That will be fun, I think. I hope. The Colloquium presentation I saw this past Tuesday was boring. I'm just not that interested in Service Learning, but this woman couldn't have made any topic interesting.

The big news, which I have saved for last, is that my brother phoned Monday. He and his wife will be flying to Grand Rapids in June to visit us. I am really excited about it, especially since he and I have not seen each other since our mother's funeral in December 1993. We've talked on the phone, but since we last saw each other, he's had a near-fatal heart attack and become a grandfather. He may be bringing his younger daughter Chelsea with him. Now I have to figure out where to have everyone sleep.

My younger son is driving down to visit my older son this weekend. It would be nice to see them. They really don't understand how much I miss them. Family. It's what's important, more than anything else.