My D (adult) has resigned her sommelier position in NYC, gotten a sub-letter for her place in Brooklyn, and is heading off solo for a 12-week sabbatical in Asia. On the agenda (so far) Thailand (with a minimum one week volunteering at the elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai), Cambodia (with an minimum one week volunteering teaching English to impoverished teens coming to Phnom Penh through a mission program), Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar.
Her decision to make this journey has been predicated on “finding herself” and what really floats her boat. She is an accomplished woman, with a background in fashion design for the rock and roll set, and has illustrated several books. Almost 2 years ago she began training to become a Court of Master certified sommelier, and while rewarding (especially financially) it has not been fulfilling.
As a mom, I’m a bit anxious for her, but she has been a world traveler her entire life, and isn’t a “risk taker” per se (as in the bungee jumping kind of risk) - I guess I’m more excited to see where this leads for her.
Our son who started his graduate studies in engineering couple of months ago told us today that he passed his PhD qualifying exam. We didn’t think he would attempt to clear this hurdle in his first semester given that he started living by himself for the first time far away from home, taking full load of course work and working part-time as a TA. He has also been spending a few hours every week actively campaigniing for H and continue to work on the book (fiction) he started writing during summer break. Plus, he is still a teenager. Feeliing very proud.
Well, let’s see… my daughter needed to draft a 3 page dialogue TV/Film scene as a writing sample for college admissions. She liked the challenge and instead expanded it to over 50 pages, writing it all over the summer, so that it could be a complete one-hour TV Drama Pilot. And now that script has been seen by local actors and made its way to a production company who is actually considering producing it as a TV Pilot. Not bad for a 17 year old…
The pipe for one of our outdoor faucets split and started a substantial leak. DH took off to Home Depot to try and find a replacement. I started thinking - hmm, there’s a lot of plumbing connected with the pool controls on the other side of the fence. Then - hmm, one of those pipes goes through the fence to the leaking faucet pipe. Then - hmm, there seems to be a shut off valve. The second DH got home, I told him, he got it to turn (I couldn’t budge it), leak has stopped. Yay!
A bit of a change from all the leaks that resulted from frozen pipes in our old home.
Son has been at his first job for about seven months. He’s making good progress. He’s just gotten moved into a position with a lot more responsibility. It’s engineering, so it’s above my head, but he is thrilled and enthusiastic about the new opportunity. I am so very, very proud!
I am so proud of the amazing young men who taught my son in middle school. They are now principal of the new underschool and the middle school. And still, 12 years later, they remember my son and ask about him. How blessed we were to have been able to send him there. What a difference they have made in his life. No matter how much time passes by, we will always support this amazing school and the dedicated men and brothers who run it.
I’m not first author but… my first published paper just came out today!!
It’s an article that is extremely interdisciplinary so it took us several tries to find a journal that would accept it. Finally the American Journal of Public Health did.
DS just got in to his first choice dPT program for next year! I am so proud of how hard he has worked - fulltime as an engineer, while taking classes and observing in order to fulfill all the prerequisites. And I am proud that he is willing to give up the good money he makes as an engineer to work in a profession that is much less well-paid but that will be more rewarding to him. Yeah!!!
My college senior has accepted a job. She turned down Google for a small start-up which she thinks will be more interesting work, plus it is in SF rather than Mountain View. Very happy for her to have the stress of job search done.
Now we are waiting for older D to find out where she is accepted for an MBA program…3 interviews down and 1 more to go.
I’m so proud of DS20 for pulling up his AP Human GEO grade. This class has a lot of memorization which is not his strong suit! The first semester of public school from a lifetime of homeschool isn’t easy but it looks like he’ll managed to pull off all A’s (if he doesn’t screw up his final exams next week!)
So the contractor wants to start a multi-day project, that we requested last January, during DD’s finals week. Given that she will be home in the afternoons and trying to study, I said no. It can wait one more week.
D finished her first semester of college with a solid A- GPA with 18 credits, an internship with student government, and 50 volunteer hours. She loves her school and is excited to see what spring semester has to offer. Any concerns we had about her starting early have been firmly laid to rest.
Army beat Navy for the first time in 14 years! The cadets are over the moon. And we saw our son on TV in the sea of faces after the first turnover. One happy mom here, one ecstatic cadet, one crazy party for the Corps tonight.
My daughter was recognized as being in the top 10% of patient satisfaction ratings for all PA’s working in health systems that use the ratings service. So in the top 10% of PAs who work in 60% of the nation’s health systems.
