<p>I want to wish all of you wonderful Tulane CC'ers a wonderful and blessed holiday. After the turmoil of the last week, I have had time to reflect, and now feel there are many things to feel grateful for.</p>
<p>My son was down with a world class case of food poisoning before finals. Luckily it wasn't during or immediately before during the heaviest study period. He's now on anti-biotics and prescription cough medicine, but that didn't start until after his last final. I think the combined stress from finals and the news from Tulane made him fair game for illness. The really good news is that all of his grades are in, and his GPA at his host school is very good, inspite of the 3-4 week late start and he's feeling much better. He especially feels good because the host school he was at is the school he hopes to transfer to to finish his engineering degree. He's glad he worked to catch up and do his best and not just aim for passing grades since Tulane is taking credits pass/fail. This was a good lesson learned for him that you need to do a good job even when you think no one is looking.</p>
<p>My daughter's sophomore year in HS is going much, much better than her freshman year. We may just survive this yet. She gets to see her boyfriend that she hasn't seen in 3 months during the next two weeks. She's in heaven.</p>
<p>A friend's son-in-law is returning at the end of the month from serving a year in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry in Tikrit. I am praying every day that he makes it safely through these last few days.</p>
<p>There are many more things I could mention, and I'm sure that there are many more that will occur to me during the next few days.</p>
<p>I know that many will be returning to NOLA next month. Many will be going there for the first time. Many will be returning for the last time, or maybe not at all. No matter what the plans, we all have a history together, and I wish you and your families the best of luck and the best of holidays.</p>