Ethan’s Journey

 I am glad tomorrow is Friday. This week has been long. Today I had one of my leadership meetings. The topic was “difficult discussions” it was quite useful with a non-accusatory approach to talking about things that suck. It has been one of the most useful things we have learned yet. I am thankful that we moved Avery home today. She will be here until Saturday. Then she moves back into the dorms to start her summer research project. Yup! Stupid they didn’t let her stay. We moved her back after work this evening and it was a family affair.  Even her friend was there helping too. When we got home, Avery and I worked on grooming the rabbit as he had a fecal catastrophic event and needed to be shaved. His ding dong (that is a scientific word) glands were crusty and needed a good cleaning as well. He is a messy boy.  Then Paul came in and told me that there was a chipmunk that fell out of the tree and broke its back and was flailing around in the back yard. I wish I hadn’t known. I was con

 Avery called me last night. This is finals week for her. She gets the swirly twirly’s in her stomach and has some pretty bullying self talk. Today was her physics 2 final. I asked her what the worst thing was that could happen. “I do really bad, everyone hates me, and I start bleeding from my eyeballs.”  Boy, I hate when that happens. I started poking holes in her anxieties/fears. We used humor to laugh at the fear. “I have heard that anxiety/fear causes excessive bleeding through the eyeballs…I hope you don’t have a clotting disorder” - I said. “Or else….sure death!” I told her about a conversation I had with her Aunt Julie SEVERAL summers ago. She had read something or listened to a podcast that suggested personifying fear into a person that is trying to control you. You should talk to your fear tell your fear what you think of it. I remember during that conversation laughing at how ridiculous this was. We joked about what we would say to fear. However, I also shared with Avery how

 This is the quote I read today. “The worst I ever wish on people is that they meet themselves as someone else.” I don’t generally wish ill on anyone…except maybe pedophiles, elder abusers and animal abusers. This quote does capture how I feel about people though.  For the most part, I wouldn’t mind running into someone that acted like me. I mean I have my days when I annoy myself or am crotchety and I wouldn’t want to meet that person acting like me on those days.  I think back to certain instances in my life where I may not have acted my best self. Ewww…would I want to run into that version of myself? No way.  Are there rules to this quote? What if your poor actions are in response to someone being a dumbass, or rude, or worse? There has to be exceptions right? Either way, the message is solid. It’s kind of like saying “Have the day you deserve.”  My camel bite is healing nicely. It looks like a watercolor gone wrong with its swirls of purple-y and yellow.  It looks so cool!

Back to the grind! Boo! I actually feel quite refreshed after a week off. I was ready to tackle today. I did a little bit of work while on vacation to make sure I was not overwhelmed today. It worked and I was thankful I chose to do that. It was a beautiful day out when it wasn’t pouring rain. ☔️  I helped Ethan complete the I9 form for his apprenticeship. I had to be the “document verifier” to make sure he is a real citizen. Avery needed help with getting her direct deposit form for her research job this summer. She was able to obtain everything remotely. I set up an appointment for next week to have my new glasses fitted.  Tomorrow we meet with the NYC nephrologist for a follow up. They want to make sure that everything is going well with the new doctors. Ethan’s doctor is so thoughtful and caring towards him, even when he is unlikable.  Ethan will need his blood drawn again soon. We will see how things look on his bloodwork. One day at a time.

 Mother’s Day should be extended for a WEEK! I would lobby for that. I don’t lobby for anything, but I would lobby for that! Today was spent cleaning and unpacking. Ethan had the house in great shape when we got back. He has made such a huge improvement since our last trip! The dogs needed their baths, nail trims and beds changed. We got that done, no problem. Next on the list, remove the camper cover, dust it off and get the winter smell out of it. Freshen the linens, towels, and rugs. Wipe out all the drawers and surfaces. Go through all the things, add all the medications and bandages so that “just in case” something happens, we are prepared. I brought up my paints and paint brushes from storage in the basement, for some epic rock painting. I have enough paints for the next 10 summers. My Mom was wonderful enough to host Mother’s Day even though it was physically taxing for her. We all stepped in to help. She made such a yummy meal! It was great to see Nana and Papa too! What a nice

 We had to sadly leave this paradise called Aruba. Some day we want to get back to it. So many wonderful things to explore. Lots of sunshine and warm weather. Now we have to go back to reality and work hard so we can afford the next trip. Our flights went well. We saw some interesting travel outfits. I liked being able to watch tv on our 5 hour jaunt. I was also able to log into work and start sorting through emails and preparing for my meetings on Monday. I also liked that our Jet Blu flight was actually on time. Other vacations we have not been so lucky. With so many people going so many places it really brings awareness to how small we are compared to this big world we live in. We need to make our time here stand out for us. Do the things we can look back on and think, “I am so glad I had that experience”. This trip was one of our growing catalogue that I can say this about. Also, I am still pretty pumped about my favorite souvenir. I was sad I had to put a coat on in NYC because it

 Today we had a leisurely last day. We finished up our leftovers, we sat by the pool and we decided to go to the beach. The beach near our rental is nice, so we went there again.  We were able to get a cabana again. It wasn’t crowded. Perfect! It was low tide so we looked at rocks, shells and critters in shells. I enjoy walking around and exploring the beach. I am not sure if it is because I like to see all the stuff or because I like wearing just my bathing suit on a hot day. We finished up at the beach a few hours later and came home for a bit. Andy napped, Diane read some, Paul was planning out his next project and I was in the pool. We decided we wanted to go to the lottery near this iconic bar. This lottery had a funny name. We saw it on our bus tour and have been laughing ever since. It is legitimate. The joke was “so….what do I win?” Paul bought a ticket and actually won a small amount. We ventured on to the iconic Charlie’s Bar. This bar had lots of chotchkies all over. It was

 Today was an exciting adventure. Paul and I wanted to check out Arikok National Park. Andy and Diane sunned themselves at the pool back at the Airbnb. The first place we went was the Natural Pool.  This pool was formed by a volcanic eruption. It has a water collection from the waves crashing over the volcanic rock that forms the barrier around this exquisite find. You can only get to it by a 4x4 vehicle. We found out why on the 25 minute drive at 10 mph or less. We were tossed around the inside of the jeep like rag dolls. There were large gaping holes in the road, large boulders and narrow super bumpy paths to get to the destination. The climb up the hill and down again that we had to do was done at a snails pace as it was so rugged. My shoulder had a raw spot from the seatbelt rubbing on us. BUT…the views were amazing. We finally arrived. I was surprised at how far away it was from the parking lot. We had to walk down 91 steps to get down to the bottom. We basically had to scramble a