one year ago today

Hillary, Annabelle, and I drove from Syracuse, New York to Normal, Illinois in one day. Sixteen hours, to be exact. We left at 8 am and got to Normal at about 12:30 am. Holy freakin' tired, batman. Driving on I-80 near Chicago with all the construction at 10:30 at night, I was white-knuckled and exhausted. The whole way down I-55, I had the music in the truck blaring really loud to help me stay awake. Turns out Hillary was doing the same thing and even Belly was singing along.

One nice thing about blogging is the chance to reflect publicly about the little moments and milestones that make life meaningful. It's hard to comprehend how much has happened in that one year. I remember saying to Hillary before she got on a plane back to Massachusetts, "Who's gonna bring me chicken soup if I get sick?" I felt so alone. Now I know that Julie or Julia or Kelly or Christy would bring me chicken soup AND saltines if I needed them. And I've figured out that I CAN do this professorial thing pretty well and I LOVE teaching graduate students. And I'm publishing. And I even have a new tomato plant (god help us all, senioritis). Julie gave it to me last night as a housewarming gift, and I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to keep it alive. Fried green tomatoes at my house! AND I have a couple of really good doggie-sitters who love Belly to pieces, so no guilt about going away for short trips. AND I have friends outside of school, a must for sanity. AND I'm down a pant size since last month.

Blessings. Count 'em.