Looking forward to a sunny September…

August has been tough. It really has. Here’s an update on what’s going on in my life.

• I wish more than anything that I could give my husband a hug right now. His mom has been in the ICU at Georgetown Hospital for several days now. Her liver is failing; she’s had 3 surgeries since August 17th, and though she’s stable, doesn’t seem to be improving much. It seems to be one complication after the other.
• My uncle flew in from Paris a few days ago with my aunt’s ashes, and a few of her closest friends hosted a celebration of her life on Saturday evening at the UT Catholic Center in Austin. She didn’t want a memorial… she wanted a party. And that’s exactly what it was. It’s unfortunate that it takes a tragic event to bring my family together, but I vow to do a better job of keeping in touch. I won’t allow myself to have any more regrets.
• Another reason for my unexpected trip to Texas? My grandpa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this month, and given a prognosis of 3 to 4 months. He’s at peace with it, but has decided to go to Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center for a second opinion regardless. My father has finally stepped up (for once in his life) and moved in with my grandpa to help the family out and I’m thankful for that.
• My teenage brother decided today that he’s had enough of his current school, Harmony Science Academy, only one week into his junior year. I always thought there was something fishy about this particular charter school – being funded by a private company that’s run by an exiled Turkish preacher couldn’t be a good thing. It only took a little Googling to find that out. Also, 1) 90% of the teachers are Turkish and don’t speak English well (and all of them, including administrators, are men!) 2) Students were given a test in 6th grade and separated into groups by skill level, and 5 years later continue to be in those groups. My brother wasn’t allowed to enroll in Algebra II for that reason. Only the “advanced” group has that privilege. 3) Though the website claims the school offers field trips, sports, after-school tutoring, and clubs, all of that has either been cut or was never in existence to begin with. This just shows how important it is to do your own due diligence when it comes to making such an important decision as what school your children attend. I think it’s incredibly brave of Michael to just drop everything he’s known for the past 5 years and move on, but that’s exactly what he’s doing and I respect him greatly for it. I helped him fill out his registration papers for his new high school this afternoon, and tomorrow he’ll go with my mom so she can sign all the necessary documents so he won’t miss anymore school.

I’ve gotten so behind on my blog. Foolishly I thought that I’d have all the time in the world to devote to it, since I don’t have the usual housework and errands to run that I do back home… but that hasn’t been the case at all.

I promise I’ll catch up, though. Even if I have to pull an all-nighter one of these days!