<p>I have posted before that unlike NM, I don’t really enjoy entertaining and am prone to migraines when faced with overnight company. A local reporter just tweeted that the person here who has ebola is in the US visiting family. I guess from now on when I am suffering through a relative’s visit, I will have to be thankful that they aren’t exposing me to ebola.</p>
<p>Thank you rockvillemom. Hopefully we can get some cards out to her.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, if it would make boys’husband feel safer, you can can pm one of us with the address and we can circulate it via pm.</p>
<p>I have had a draft sitting for days it seems… and then I saw the news on FB about Boysx3 and came running to see what had happened! I am shocked and so completely overwhelmed by the fragility of life and health. Especially when I seem stuck in some sort of limbo… still. Honestly, I am confused as to why anymore. But…yes… limbo sucks, but the very good news is the Nook, while tiny in lots of respects, is very much my home on a deeper level. Plus, the family house is here too and we’ve actually spent Christmas and New Years there several times when we had a full house. The last time however was D2’s senior year. H is coming up on the 3rd. Honestly, sometimes you just reach a point where I’d rather stay here with friends and familiarity than go back and rent something I can do nothing with. Floors are hopefully coming next week!!</p>
<p>S got one rejection from Pittsburgh, but no more news than that. Sad about burgh, as that’s where I grew up more or less and relatively not too far away from here. Bummer, but hoping he has more to come yet. Honestly, I don’t think he did a great job on some secondaries - while I havent read them. Anyway… we’ll see and I am really hopeful that he might get even one or more II. While everyone said he had great stats etc, I knew from last year that numbers are only a small part. The H in HYP is now offering interviews it seems too. But next week is his first interview, and he moved to Brooklyn today, his entire office moved their office and he has a project that is vexing him on top of it all. I really do need to send his gf flowers. :)</p>
<p>Umm… nose ring? Is it a little dot or a ring? Not a fan in a general way, but I also know kids where it doesn’t look bad at all (especially if a dot). The thing I dislike, however, is the gauges in the ears so it looks like something out of my youthful National Geographic magazines! 
And there’s just no coming back from those without reconstructive surgery. Again, my only advice is that life is long… and I can only very much encourage her to wait and see what unfolds before she goes too far down the road of permanence. </p>
<p>I have recently been advising a young girl on a breakup - in her early 20’s. She seems so broken hearted, and while I am very sympathetic in many ways, I am encouraging her to just act as if for awhile. While I think she would do well to get some professional counseling as it does seem he took her self-esteem with him when he left, what she doesn’t see is that he was practically ignoring her into breaking up with him (chicken poo that it is). Anyway… the relative point is that she is just beginning to even know who she is, let alone knowing herself well enough to know what will ultimately make her happiest in a relationship (that is at it’s core, a lifetime of compromise). My advice to MissyD2 is that life is long… get to know yourself a lot better, and don’t feel the need to document every moment for the world to see (as in tattoo). :)</p>
<p>My prayers are with Boysx3 and her family - I am sending her the mojo because… well, I’ve seen it work on here time and time again… it’s like it comes from all corners and brings so much light. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.</p>
<p>So sad to hear about boysx3. Life is fragile, unpredictable but wonderful as well and she clearly has a loving, loving family. My heart goes out to them.</p>
<p>sending spirit love to boysx3. Such a sudden event. And so sad.</p>
<p>Mod–tears for Pittsburg. DIL has an interview at her State flagship where we want them to be for the family nearby and the low tuition. Second to land in Oregon–which will nickle and dime H and me but will work maybe even better for them as we could help with G’son. That said, I do not think that as great as her stats are and she will interview well --she does not have the “other stuff”. D had so much research and employment at 2 abortions clinics. She also figured out that the key words now are that you like rural and would love to live in a small rural area, Now that would be me but not sure if this is true for her. Maybe she thinks a suburb is rural–will have to ask her.</p>
<p>I am starting to make a cheat sheet for all of you as I feel bad when I do not mention each event. (yep a super people pleaser here :)).</p>
<p>I do read along and am glad to be able to do so. We are such a safe group and really? how often does that happen?</p>
<p>kmc–love the Leonard song. I have mentioned that I found him before most anyone but not, yet, in 1966.</p>
<p>@downtoearth, the Debbie Friedman version of Mi Sheberach is what we sing in our synagogue. It is beautiful. She wrote some absolutely wonderful music with great spiritual feeling. Weird to see a cross with it. </p>
<p>I never know whether to share my thoughts on ShawD here, where people know me, or in the 2011 class, where there is not the same level of interaction. So here goes:</p>
<p>We went yesterday to a white coat ceremony for ShawD. Her coat says ShawD, RN and Student Nurse Practitioner. Neither is true yet. Thirty five women, though ShawD is both the youngest and the tallest. Most are either getting this degree program after an RN or as a 3 year direct entry from BS to MSN. Boring speakers but we are so happy to celebrate our daughter. Her adviser asked where Sigma Theta (?) Nursing honorary society pin. Because she is in a very small five year accelerated program, they forgot to give her a pin for the nursing honorary society. Given how well she has done in school (she probably has the highest grades among the 35), her adviser said “That’s obviously an oversight and I’ll fix it.”</p>
<p>Following her brother, self-confidence has been a bit of an issue at times. Well, good news. It’s coming. We took her out to her favorite sushi place and we were talking about the preceptor placements that she and others had gotten. She was surprised that her preceptor had clearly read her resume and that it seemed to be sort of a competitive thing as to whether they took you on. I said, “Well don’t understand why didn’t get your pick of positions.” And she said, “Well. Why do you think I got the best position?” Other people asked for cardiac ICU as their top choice and ShawD got it at probably one of the top hospitals in the country (world?). I don’t actually know how they assigned shots to kids but I am so pleased she is developing the confidence. </p>
<p>In January after she graduates and passes the RN licensure exam, she can wear the coat. But she pointed, she will have to get business casual clothing to wear underneath it. I guess the dress code that you don’t wear scrubs underneath the white coat. You wear nice clothes. A few weekend from now is an event at a fancy private school she attended. Some of the rich women mothers and alums give their lightly worn very nice clothes to sell, I assume as a benefit to the school. She asked us to go there with her to buy business casual clothes. </p>
<p>boysx3 and I got together several times this summer, the last one at the beginning of August. She showed me the condo while it was still being renovated, and it was clear she was really happy to be in a vibrant city neighborhood where they could live for many years. Eddie, I think you and I went to lunch just after I had seen her. I PM’d her about two weeks ago, but never heard back. I figured she was visiting that delicious grandbaby and getting ready for the High Holidays. Never in a million years would have guessed that she was so suddenly and severely taken ill. Boysx3 wears a necklace that has the names of her sons on it. Every time I saw her, she was wearing it; it was a circle of love wrapped around her neck like a hug. </p>
<p>Mi Shebeirach is a beautiful song of healing, and I have been humming it a lot the past few days. What a gift it would be to sing it to her in person. </p>
<p>CD- thank you so much for the visual. It was truly heartwarming.</p>
<p>Oregon - S’s interview next week is at our state flagship - which is actually a great medical school. It would be thrilling for him to attend there. And then the other is his very top choice. The harder thing for him is that 50% of those interviewed are offered acceptance. So I keep saying, it only takes one. He has some research, but not published, and very low on clinical having spent one summer in an ER. The good news is, it’s a strong program in our home state. But overall, he does get involved in the community - mentorship etc and I do think he would very much like rural having now lived in a big city and not loving it. His UG was in the middle of nowhere (where clinical experience was not easily gotten either), but it does give him comparative analysis so if he said he was interested in something less urban he could easily say why. And his interests now are very much about accessibility and consistency of care. But seriously, I have no idea what goes on in a med school interview… </p>
<p>Im suggesting he email a doc who he had lunch with last fall while studying for the MCAT and get some advice.</p>
<p>The Leonard Cohen poem is beautiful. Thank you.</p>
<p>In some ways I see all the pink ribbons for breast cancer, and I wonder where is the similar energy to help prevent and improve recovery from strokes? So devastating, and so very scary. I just read this article today on a guy at Hopkins doing some interesting stroke rehab work – unfortunately, so much of what I read about current practices in the community seem little different than what I saw my mom get fifteen years ago.
<a href=“National Geographic”>National Geographic;
<p>Wow, I just got caught up here. Such sad news, with the passing of close friends and the children of friends, and hospice placements. You are all in my thoughts. And now boysx3’s illness. I am hoping for the best outcome for her.</p>
<p>I too am in somewhat of a state of shock about boysx3. I feel as if I know her (and the rest of you) even though I don’t “know” her, you know? Such a sudden, life-altering event in just the blink of an eye … Life is fragile and oh so precious. I find myself letting go of so many more things as I get older – all the while thinking, “Life is too short for this.” </p>
<p>Love the Leonard Cohen poem.</p>
<p>Had dinner with D and her bf the other night. This was our “payment” to them for helping move the bookcase down to the lower level of the condo here in Cambridge. (Remember the “strapped to the top of the car” bookcase?) It all got done without a hitch, so that’s good. (I obviously survived the drive here, but I hope not to have to do it again.) I love listening to D yabber on about her job – she’s loving what she’s doing, meeting lots of senior people, getting great experience, and, apparently, earning an excellent reputation.</p>
<p>I still worry a lot about S, but that will most likely never change. I can’t make his decisions for him – he’s the one that has to live with them. He’s 23 – maybe his brain isn’t fully “developed?”</p>
<p>Feel a need to be in your midst after reading about boysx3 on FB. So frightening and it could be any one of us. Thinking warm thoughts about all of your with renewed gratitude for this lovely group of (not)strangers.</p>
<p>Good to hear from you PRJ! Think of you often and send prayers and positive thoughts your way. How are your beautiful Ds doing?</p>
<p>Thanks NM. They are well. D1 is working in a synagogue as a rabbinic assistant. Which really means she is low person on the administrative team, but she is working hard and learning a lot; when we visited for Rosh Hashanah, we heard all the things a parent wants to hear from a child’s bosses and colleagues - they seem to love her. D2 is a junior at NYU, shares a teeny apartment with 2 roommates, and is still crafting her “design-your-own-major” - something to do with education and civil rights. She is tutoring, teaching a poetry class in a women’s prison and interning at a social service agency. Making the most of all that NYU and NYC have to offer.</p>
<p>I am not in the least caught up here, but missypie, both my Ds have what they call nose-rings which are really studs. I’m resigned and barely notice them any more. But please, do not ask me about D2’s tattoo :(</p>
<p>D1, who has designed and is teaching a CS class for a local middle school this year, was asked to add an after school section for the elementary school kids. She said her first session on Monday was a total (disciplinary) disaster. So she got an appointment with the elementary school principal, and sat in on about 5 different classes yesterday and today, to see how the teachers handled the students. And this is the cool part: she also spent an hour on the phone with my mom, who was a (very successful) local elementary school principal before she retired. </p>
<p>Result: today the kids didn’t want to leave when their parents came to pick them up. She feels on top of the world. </p>
<p>D2 reports that grad school is indeed like a firehose. In her program, the first year grad students each have a recitation that they teach one day a week as part of the introductory gen chem class (which all undergrad first years take). First one tomorrow. She is also taking 2 classes that have loaded her with “problem sets.” She did get an invitation to attend a group meeting tonight of one of the researchers she’s actually quite interested in working with; so she was looking forward to that.</p>
<p>After having her out of state and out of country for five years, it is just so wonderfully different to have her living 10-15 minutes away. She has “dropped by” and stayed for meals half a dozen times; Sunday night she was here 3 hours and we just talked. What a treat!</p>
<p>Nice to hear from you, PRJ.
PRJ and Z, good to hear that your kids are doing well.
shaw, from everything you have posted about your D, she sounds like an amazing young woman. Glad to hear that her confidence is growing. </p>
<p>S is talking about transferring.</p>
<p>Am working on stepping up the physical activity. Started yoga a month ago with the goal of 1x per week, I’m back on the treadmill in the AM, and went hiking on Sunday. Trying to stay realistic on what I am able to do.</p>
<p>eta- The Leonard Cohen lyrics are beautiful.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear your son is talking about transferring, FallGirl. How likely do you think that is?</p>
<p>How nice to have your daughter so close by, Z.</p>
<p>S2 is helping to present a paper (he got his name on it!), in about an hour at an international conference being held in Florida. Never would have thunk it! He has come a long way since his rather lackluster high school days.</p>
<p>Thinking of boysx3. </p>
<p>FallGirl, this is your S who just started at the same school as my S, right? Sorry if things aren’t working out.</p>
<p>Been thinking about boysx3 too. I think I shared here a year ago a co-worker suddenly died. Hadn’t been sick, was younger than me. It really served as a wake-up call to live intentionally.</p>
<p>@sevmom, congratulations. </p>
<p>@FallGirl, transferring is not inherently bad if involves a self-realization about what is good for him. It may be unfortunate if it is due to lack of motivation or failure to perform. ShawD loved the social situation at her first school but loves what she is studying and is engaged and happy for the most part. It is wonderful to see her self-confidence growing and I don’t think it would have happened at her first school.</p>
<p>ShawSon called last night a bit rattled. One of his courses, the one where he is underprepared (despite my suggestion he use the summer to prepare), is much harder than he thought and most of his classmates are much better prepared and are having trouble with the material. It is going to be a tougher semester than he thought. Maybe very tough. Plus a minor bike accident as one of the the pedals ShawWife put on fell off while he is riding. ShawWife and I are both feeling a little anxious as we hope he is not in over his head and there is not a lot we can do. He does know how to work incredibly hard but he is used to being the smartest person in the room. It might still be the case but might not, and in this course, experience is probably more important than IQ anyway. My initial expectation is that this course will be hard work (now updated to very hard) but not that hard intellectually. Fingers crossed.</p>