Ongoing
Life goes on, so fast it's hard to realize we're halfway through September. We have had such a pretty end of summer. There was a ton of smoke here earlier, but it's been mostly gone for a week now. I don't appreciate clean air enough.
Emily went in to talk to the counselors at the community college and learned she only needs two more classes to get her AA degree, which is what Western told her she should do before applying again. This is wonderful news. She's been catastrophizing that it would take another year. So she'll finish that up this quarter, take chemistry in the winter to get that last bad grade off her transcript and apply for next fall at Western. I really hope they take her this time, we don't really have any alternate plans.
She has decided to be a vegetarian again. She does this fairly often, and it lasts a few weeks. This time she's working so has more money to fritter away on it. She's filled the fridge with meatless meatballs, almond and soy milks and salads, all of which have been there for a week and are about to get thrown away. She spent the last two nights with friends and had a hamburger one night and teriyaki the other, so hopefully we're getting to the end of this time.
I read in the paper that my county is ground zero for the opioid epidemic, and I know that's true. I've never seen so many homeless people camping out, and there are so many sad stories about women with children, addicted, and the whole family sleeping in a tent in a park. A couple of years ago Em and I volunteered at a United Way day for the homeless, and I was shocked how young so many of them were, and how so many of them admitted they were homeless because of addiction.
This year it's been brought home to me that it's not just the people camping in the parks. Last year one of Emily's friends overdosed. A few months ago the son of one of my clients overdosed. And last month, one of Danny's friends overdosed. I knew this one the best, he'd played on all Danny's sports teams. We'd been to his house for end of season parties. The boy who found him was another classmate whose family is like my extended family. Just horrible. These are good families, good kids who've been given every advantage. I understand how you can get addicted to alcohol. I understand cocaine. I will never understand how you decide to start using heroin.
When I used to write on Diaryland, it would let you put a line across your text to break up your ideas. I liked that. It feels weird to jump around here without breaking it up better, but if I focus too much on that I won't write, and I want to write.
Last time I talked about our search for an office I said we'd made an offer on another one. The landlord took almost three weeks to get back to us, with an unacceptable proposal. We countered. When we didn't hear anything, we kept looking and we found another place I like much better. Probably not as much as the one we had the big argument over, but it's pretty good. It has enough space in it that I think we'll be able to stay there as long as we're in business. It's a great location close to our old office, near the freeway, completely away from all construction. We made an offer on it, they responded promptly, and we said we'd accept their terms. So hopefully we'll sign something Monday and be done with the search. It is nerve-wracking because apparently there are two other groups interested in the same space. We saw the space Tuesday at 12 and had an offer in by Tuesday at 3. Fingers are crossed. I will be very happy to have this process done.
Emily went in to talk to the counselors at the community college and learned she only needs two more classes to get her AA degree, which is what Western told her she should do before applying again. This is wonderful news. She's been catastrophizing that it would take another year. So she'll finish that up this quarter, take chemistry in the winter to get that last bad grade off her transcript and apply for next fall at Western. I really hope they take her this time, we don't really have any alternate plans.
She has decided to be a vegetarian again. She does this fairly often, and it lasts a few weeks. This time she's working so has more money to fritter away on it. She's filled the fridge with meatless meatballs, almond and soy milks and salads, all of which have been there for a week and are about to get thrown away. She spent the last two nights with friends and had a hamburger one night and teriyaki the other, so hopefully we're getting to the end of this time.
I read in the paper that my county is ground zero for the opioid epidemic, and I know that's true. I've never seen so many homeless people camping out, and there are so many sad stories about women with children, addicted, and the whole family sleeping in a tent in a park. A couple of years ago Em and I volunteered at a United Way day for the homeless, and I was shocked how young so many of them were, and how so many of them admitted they were homeless because of addiction.
This year it's been brought home to me that it's not just the people camping in the parks. Last year one of Emily's friends overdosed. A few months ago the son of one of my clients overdosed. And last month, one of Danny's friends overdosed. I knew this one the best, he'd played on all Danny's sports teams. We'd been to his house for end of season parties. The boy who found him was another classmate whose family is like my extended family. Just horrible. These are good families, good kids who've been given every advantage. I understand how you can get addicted to alcohol. I understand cocaine. I will never understand how you decide to start using heroin.
When I used to write on Diaryland, it would let you put a line across your text to break up your ideas. I liked that. It feels weird to jump around here without breaking it up better, but if I focus too much on that I won't write, and I want to write.
Last time I talked about our search for an office I said we'd made an offer on another one. The landlord took almost three weeks to get back to us, with an unacceptable proposal. We countered. When we didn't hear anything, we kept looking and we found another place I like much better. Probably not as much as the one we had the big argument over, but it's pretty good. It has enough space in it that I think we'll be able to stay there as long as we're in business. It's a great location close to our old office, near the freeway, completely away from all construction. We made an offer on it, they responded promptly, and we said we'd accept their terms. So hopefully we'll sign something Monday and be done with the search. It is nerve-wracking because apparently there are two other groups interested in the same space. We saw the space Tuesday at 12 and had an offer in by Tuesday at 3. Fingers are crossed. I will be very happy to have this process done.
Drugs are terrifying. They are much more permanent than alcohol, I think. And much more attractive to young people because of their quickness and type of high. Good luck to Emily! I'm sure she is ready to leave the nest. ;) Ashley is a pescatarian and so is Henry; it's an easy and nutritious diet, always easy to find stuff to eat at restaurants. When Ashley was vegan, it was extremely painful and I'm delighted that she gave up on that! (decided she loved fish and cheese too much) Glad you found a new office--I know this has been lots of stress.
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