April 5
In which March Madness starts 6 months early for New Englanders.
No, you aren't wrong. Those ARE photos from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Spring. It's been awhile since we've written! There's a lot to catch up on:
As the title indicates, it's been a bit of madness for the past six months. In September, shortly after our last posting, my employer announced plans for a major re-organization and the intent to undergo a series of lay-offs. Given that there's typically a policy of Last In = First Out, Robin and I-- or at least I-- went into full panic mode.
Long story short, I have a different job than what I was recruited to do, but I'm employed which puts our family a whole lot better off than far too many others. We're very grateful.
We didn't find this out for sure, however, until February. So I explain our silence with, first, an inability to think of anything peppy to say during the long months of angst, and, second, full tilt busy-ness in the weeks immediately following the announcements.
It was a rough time, but finally making some friends in the northeast helped. Getting lots of company from home made things easier, too. Over the past six months we've been visited by Abuelita Pamela from Mexico; Jeff Cross from Japan; Jeff's mother, Kathy, from Kansas; his neice Kathryn, from Alaska (although she goes to school in Boston); and Wendy, Jordan and Aunt Sandy from Tightwad, Missouri.
Of course, we slipped a holiday trip of our own in and flew to Kansas City for Christmas. Owen and I traveled separately from Robin; with her new job, she has less vacation and couldn't stay as long as we wanted to.
That meant I was, literally, flying solo with Owen when our travel plans were derailed by a major snow storm. Owen and I ended up buying a second set of tickets and driving to Providence, Rhode Island to fly to Kansas City.
The highlight of the trip was when Owen, exhausted in Chicago, did an impromptu performance of The Three Stooges while we were waiting in the boarding line. The lady behind us assured me the show was hilarious. Her kindness was probably the only thing that kept me from checking the boy as luggage.
Since then, we've been settling into our new routines. Robin continues to love her new job. It's the perfect company-- young, brilliant scientists inventing life enhancing medications for Baby Boomers. Specifically, they're working on a treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. (Which given our family's proclivities, has got be some kind of Karma thing.)
For Halloween, they had an office pumpkin carving contest. Everyone there was friendly and nice which is how you know none of them are from Boston.
Owen continues to enjoy school and has had several buddies over for play dates. He went in last month for his Kindergarten assessment and, at the risk of sounding immodest, blew the doors off the test.
Since he will be one of the youngest in the class, his Montessori teachers worry about socialization. They tell us he does very well with older children and adults, but isn't as comfortable with kids his own age. Robin and I just look at them and say, "yeah, it's an only child thing."
"He won't share very well, either," we assure them.
Things have begun to settle for us nicely so, of course, that's the reason we've decided now would be the perfect time to get a puppy. You can see pictures of Trixie, the newest addition to our family, here. Unfortunately, you can't hear her howling from her pen.
Generally, she's been a good girl. Murray is finally getting used to her but she's not quite big enough to play the way he wants to. Toonces can't be bothered and Betty is disgusted with the whole thing. We've changed the rules for the new puppy-- no more treats from the table. Betty thinks this is a blatant violation of our social contract. I anticipate retribution.
We'll have a few more days for everyone to get used to one another and then we're off to the corners of the continent. Sadly, Robin's god-sister, Eva, passed away this week. She and her parents will be traveling to California for the funeral. The day before she returns, Owen and I head west to Kansas City (flying on those tickets from the cancellations at Christmas).
As soon as everyone comes back to Boston, we'll start hosting again with a visit from Grandma Gloria and Grandpa. In between, my work travel kicks up again and I'll be heading to New York and, probably, Texas.
The Hesshenshaw Suite continues to be open to visitors. And, with the sun finally returning to the sky, Massachussets may even be pleasant again!
Come see us!
