I have been fighting inertia for most of the summer, if not longer. I wish I could say that I've been winning. I’m sure that there was a reason for the initial slowdown, but I have no idea now what it was, and now it’s just feeding on itself: inertia leads to anxiety, which leads to avoidance, which leads to inertia. Lather, rinse, repeat ( Read more... )

The weekend that just ended was relatively quiet, involving soccer, cooking, and playdates with the neighbor. But I spent much of the previous weekend continuing to reconnect with my family.
( There was a bat mitzvah. )

The boy is back home from summer camp, and he's brought back some interesting vocabulary, mannerisms, and questions. I'm trying not to be too strict for now, but whenever it comes up, I nonetheless make clear that he's being inappropriate ( Read more... )

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday. There was lots of good food, of course, and just the right amount of family. I saw just about everyone on Thursday, and only on Thursday, so I caught up with them without getting overloaded. The long break from school meant that I could sleep late and otherwise pretty much do what ( Read more... )

I remember from my apartment growing up that we had a cardboard box of our home movies on super 8. Every once in a while, I used to wonder what happened to it. It turns out that my brother had it, and he has been having them digitized ( Read more... )

Highlights (?) of the week so far:

• It's gray and rainy.
• Drama with my stepmother regarding care for my mentally incapacitated father.
• Work, work, work, and it just keeps coming.
• I have gout. GOUT.

Oh, yes, and all of the foregoing is taking place in Margate. Phooey.

I'm pretty sure that Leo has already played more games of catch with his father than I ever played with mine. That should help to explain something, although I'd be pressed to explain precisely what.

Today is my father's 70th birthday. I wonder if he knows it.

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Meanwhile, I got a call yesterday (Sunday) evening from my stepmother because my dad's in the hospital. He was running a 104° fever and was even less coherent than usual. They're not sure what's going on; an infection is the obvious culprit, but they're not going to get much of a recent history from my father ( Read more... )

Leo had surgery yesterday, inserting set of tissue expanders in his back. He's sleeping at the moment, but he's certainly been in more pain this time than after some of the prior operations. Lauren and I are very tired.