
**No this is not a current photo - it's from last summer. I'm just trying to remind myself that the grass will get greener.**
After I publish a post, I always go check my blog's home page and make sure that it's on the site correctly. Last time when I did this, I noticed my header says, "adventures in sewing, crafting, motherhood, and life" and I thought about how there hasn't been a whole lot of "life" around here lately. And by here, I mean the blog, because there certainly has been a lot of life going on with me. When I have things to think about, I keep them in. I like to sit and stew it over by myself, or with Ryan, he is definitely my sounding board. At some point it all as to come out, though and I think I'm there. I apologize for the flow of these next four paragraphs. I keep reading over them and can't seem to make them fit together better, so here it goes...
My Grandpa's health is failing. We're not really sure how much longer he has, but he's not doing well. This is the grandpa that I grew up with and he's been more of a father to me than anyone. He's dying of cancer, so it's just painful and slow. I'm not close enough to be witnessing much of it or helping out much, but I can hear the toll it's taking on my Mom and Grandma when I talk to them on the phone. Cancer sucks!
One of my closest friends here in town (one of the women I exercise with 3x a week) just had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. She lost her hearing in one ear, her voice, and her facial movement on one side. It will probably take her several months to recover and a surgery or two more to help recover her voice and some of her hearing. She came home from the hospital yesterday and I visited today (with my other exercise buddy). She looked great and has a great attitude. I am thankful to see her doing so well.
Peter's doing well in school, but is still super delayed in language. We got his yearly evaluation results this week and no surprise, he still tests about 1.5 years behind in language. His issues are not super clear cut and sometimes I feel like there's not much more we can do for him than we are doing, but I feel like I need and want to something. We are grateful that his speech therapist has agreed to give him an extra session of therapy each week as part of a non-profit organization she is starting. This means another trip to "town" each week, but we can handle it, right?
And the job search is impending. Ryan is wrapping up his research and has started writing a paper (I'm hoping it will be finished by this summer). After that paper is written, it's all systems go for the job search. With the economy how it is and the way this went last time Ryan was looking for a job (after graduation, he was unemployed for three months while we had an infant and a two year old), more than anything, this is just making me nervous. Thanks to a boss who values Ryan and has set up an extra year of funding for him, he won't be out of job for more than a year here but there is still something so unsettling to me about the fact that we are in our mid-thirties, have a couple of kids, and aren't "settled," whatever that means.
I'm trying to be hopeful about these things, so I think it's appropriate that it's spring right now. If it could just get a little warmer here, then I might really have a chance to really see the bright side of all these things. I am feeling better about it all today than I did yesterday when I wrote most of this post, but still feeling in need of more spring, more outside time, and less cold feet. Could someone send some sun, please?