Desert Magnolia

First, an apology. For my very long silence. To say the last few weeks have been a blur would be a gross understatement, so I won't go there. I will say, however, that the frenzy leading up to the departure? Nutso. But here we are. Via Providence. And Paris. And now the Middle East. I bought and have been noting impressions of our experience in a journal...and there have been many, so I'll share over the next few weeks. We left Albuquerque on the 14th, Wednesday, and headed to Providence. Where we were gathered up by our daughter in a borrowed car. Can we just say, thank you so much Miss J.D. for entrusting our girl with your super cute Honda. Thank you thank you. We met the roommates, super sweet girls that are also soccer players and dedicated students. We met the neighbors, super cute boys that clearly adore our girl and her roommates..and with whom the girls have a really nice give and take relationship. This made us happy in a parental way.... We saw the traini...

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.    -Chinese Proverb

I did. Today. And I realized that it was the unexpected shock of a weird turn in a haircut that resulted in my going with a super short pixie in lieu of 'growing long layers into a bob.' Because sometimes, when layered on top of all the other crap that's going on, even if it's good crap? Enough is enough. The good news is my stylist and I worked through it all, just fine. I have supershort hair for my trip abroad, which may not be a bad thing anyway. So really the crying? Wasn't about the hair so much, as the shock of the new look, coupled with the realization that I'm leaving the country in one week (ONE), coupled with the knowledge that I have a butt ton of work to complete before I leave just so things stay moderately on track, coupled with my fear that I've forgotten at least one something significant but not knowing what that might be, of course, which simply adds another item to couple with the rest. And I think I may have just misused the t...

Right out of the pond. I'm not kidding!  8 healthy, beautiful, fat goldies. G.G. is beside himself, as am I. They were pets, those little swimmers. We're thinking it was a hawk or a coyote. Turns out they're everywhere, and they're always hungry. The alternative is that they staged an escape themselves, but since they hadn't come to us with demands for a bigger pond, more food, more pond plants, or any of that stuff? We're pretty sure they didn't think this up. Also, if our worst fears are true and someone actually came into our backyard with an intent to purloin said fishies, and carried through with their nefarious plan? We'd really lose faith in our neighbors. Just sayin'. Fishies, may you R.I.P. May you swim in a pond full of love and other happy fish for eternity.