February

Time to check in again. I don't mean for these to be monthly posts. I really would like them to be more frequent, but for now, this is as good as it gets. I'm on the verge of finishing a big project, and once that's done, I'll have more discretionary time to do things like review movies and complain about the weather.

It's Friday afternoon, and Avery is at home today. She's been complaining all week about not feeling well. She didn't have a fever, cough, diarrhea, or any other sign of sickness so off to school she went. Last night, she was up every hour on the hour coughing and hacking, so she's home today and has an appointment with the doctor later on.

It's another blisteringly cold day here in downtown Freezerville. Maryn was supposed to participate in an all-day snow sculpting competition down by the Tridge today, but they canceled it due to cold. I'm glad they did. The two minutes it took us to get from the van into the community center for Avery's basketball game last night made my hands feel as though they were going to break off at the wrist.

Despite the cold, Suzy is out and about. She is meeting with Erin the Great, Linda the Powerful, and Addie the Slobbery at Zehnder's in Frankenmuth this afternoon. One of the things we kept saying over and over when we were in process of making the move to Midland was that it's only an hour and a half from the Detroit suburbs. That means a meeting somewhere in the middle is less than an hour away. I love this aspect of living here. Rather than being a soul-killing six hour drive through Chicago and Crudtown (that's what I like to call Indiana), it's a pleasant hour and a half straight shot to family and friends. That's pretty great.

One nice highlight to my day so far was receiving a Facebook message from my old pal, Jeremy. I've written about Jeremy here before, years ago. He and I were buddies at Idaho State and were both English majors and poetry dorks. Eventually, he went into broadcasting, starting a local show on KISU called InHouse that specialized in playing music by independent and local bands. After graduating, he parlayed that into a show on Oregon Public Radio in Portland. He's been there, promoting bands and playing music, for over seven years. Earlier this week, he posted on FB that he had just been unceremoniously laid off. I dropped him a line to say how much I think that sucks and how much I've admired what he's done over the years. He wrote back today to say thanks and to affirm that, despite the time and distance between us, that we are still pals. That's nice, you know? To know that even after years without much real contact, your friends are still your friends. I love that. It makes cold, snowy days filled with child sickness and doctor appointments much better.

Well, child #1 isn't going to drive herself home from school (though I'm sure some part of her wishes she could), so I'm off to pick her up. Avery and Park Fu will stay here, equally mesmerized by the power of unlimited cartoons on Netflix. They won't even know I'm gone.