Transoceanic depth in this earth in this cenotaph

It’s been three weeks since Tina’s surgery and she is still recovering. Her mom, Jan, stayed with us for a couple of weeks and was a tremendous help, but we’re on our own again now. We’ve all gotten into a routine since she left, but we’ll be glad when Tina is back to full strength again. She’s frustrated with the speed of her recovery but glad that she already feels better now than she did before the surgery. She’s looking forward to an active spring and summer with our family.

At first I had some difficulty adjusting my schedule – i.e. getting up at 6:00 am to get the boys to school – but I’ve grown pretty used to it in the last couple of weeks. Discovering the coffee shop by Thomas’ school was also helpful in that area. Being able to work from home has certainly made this situation much easier for me, and my boss has been very understanding about taking time away from work when needed. Like most companies right now, EFI is under tremendous financial pressure and has seen a slowdown in sales in the last year. There have been layoffs because of that, but I have been lucky enough to avoid those so far.

Thomas turned 13 at the end of January and we had a low-key celebration for him. As usual he raked in a chunk of money and spent a couple of weeks planning how to spend it. He has been wanting a high quality set of headphones since before Christmas so I helped him pick out a pair by Audio-Technica which arrived in the mail today. He let us all try them out (or he showed them off) and they are very impressive. Much better than any headphones I have ever owned.

When I has a teenager, I felt lucky when my brother, Mark, loaned/gave me his Koss headphones which were very high quality at the time. They weighed about four pounds and all of the foam in the ear cups had mostly disintegrated. If I wore them for more than 15 minutes, they made my ears hurt but I still wore them for hours, probably much to my sister, Maridee’s, relief. Eventually, my brother, Kim, and I replaced the foam and rewired them. At some point, perhaps when I left for college, I decided that I didn’t need those headphones anymore and left them with Kim. I’m not sure if Mark ever got them back.

Graham had his Pinewood Derby last week but couldn’t go because he was sick. Thomas and I went in his stead and are hoping for the best when the results are made available during the Blue and Gold banquet this month. Once again we put off crafting it until a few weeks before weigh-in. Thomas and I were gluing his and Graham’s car just minutes before taking them to the weigh-in. Next year will be Graham’s last Pinewood Derby and we are determined to win it all then.

Graham has also become dissatisfied with his school. In previous years, he’s been able to attend advanced classes but our school district has had to cut their budget significantly this year and that option isn’t available now. He goes to a different school for their TAG (talented and gifted) program, but that’s only a couple of afternoons each week. He complains that he doesn’t feel challenged and is not learning anything because they are reviewing what he learned last year. I feel for him because I felt like that many times when I was in school. Still, it’s hard to convey to him how to be patient and just get through these things.

Thanks to all of you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers; sent gifts, flower and cards; or otherwise helped us out in our time of need. If nothing else, we’ve learned just how lucky we are.