Short but Sweet

Sunday, November 27th, 2005

Good evening folks! Well, Dad, Mom, Daniel and John and DAISY have all arrived safe and sound back in da 'Burgh, together again after 3 weeks & 3 days apart. It appears that this strangest of Novembers is nearly past, and with it the abnormalities it brought. Dad and Mom had a rather pleasant week in Florida, once Uncle Keith was released from the hospital (as happy to be out of there as a dog from the bathtub). They made sure to call every few days and let us know how warm it was down there :-P Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were down to 20 or so in Chicago - the coldest days of this season so far. Pittsburgh got a lot of snow, or so I hear.

Daniel and I had a great couple days with Grandma and Grandpa. They were few, and went fast, but much sweetness was packed into them. I didn't get much schoolwork done, and I didn't get a lot of catch-up sleep, but I did drink and enjoy copious amounts of Cherry-Vanilla Dr.Pepper, do lots of putzy stuff on the internet (facebook and flickr), watch a bunch of mindless sports and movies, and spend some great time with G&G. Grandpa and I sat down on Friday for an hour or two and he drew out for me the processes from the chemical plant he worked at. It was like Chemical Engineering 101: flash tanks, distillation columns, pumps, evaporators, heat exchangers....way cool stuff. It was particularly interesting to hear about the improvements he devised for the process - something I may well be doing myself in a few years.

On Friday morning I got to put my spring chicken-ness to work helping the Mom of a friend of G&G's move. Daniel and I went to Taco Bell for lunch with Grandpa on Wednesday, and determined that when he loses his hair from the chemo, he'll have Grandma sew dreadlocks into his Cubs hat :-) Either that, or he can stay bald and go for the German Colonel look. Grandpa starts his chemotherapy on Friday, and he'll have 8 sessions, 3 weeks apart. He'll lose his hair, and suffer whatever particular side effects his body generates, but in general he shouldn't be real nauseous, and after those treatments the lymphoma should be at least dormant, and at best (60% chance or so), cured. We'll be praying, and as they and we are so aware, God's grace will be there, new and strong every morning as the day brings its own challenges. Even when you're almost 80, God continues to grow you in brand new ways! Grandma and Grandpa's faith and joy through this all are a shining witness of Jesus Christ's real and transforming love and grace, and I am very proud to call them my Grandparents. What a heritage they have given to us!

Daniel and I had a HRA drive back from Chicago on Saturday. We left at 8am on the dot, and I drove for the first 4.5 hours. We played through a modern/alt rock playlist on Daniel's ipod that whole time, which was quite enjoyable. Then we had lunch and Daniel drove the rest of the way, and we listened to the BBC dramatization of "Dracula." Quite interesting, though the whole vampire concept is so hackneyed it was more funny than scary. We pulled up to the driveway with the climactic last 10 minutes still left to go! Still haven't finished it. Ah well :-( The drive was good, and it was strange to think of the dozens of times Mom drove the three of us back and forth...and now the two of us were making the drive on our own - maturing young adults. . . weird thoughts.

Mom's reunion with Daisy was joyful. Every few minutes Mom would look down and exclaim anew, "Oh, you are SO cute!" :-)

Today I played drums for worship at church, with Mr. Taylor playing acoustic bass and Mrs. Taylor playing violin - quite a sweet setup. I love the church's set! Best toms and hi-hat I've ever played. After church I grabbed a quick delicious steak quesadilla at the food court and headed to Grace Episcopal Church for the first One Voice concert of the 2005 advent season.

I've been rather discouraged with OV this semester since I haven't been able to learn the songs very solidly, and I've begrudged the time commitment. Nevertheless, the concert, at 2pm, went superbly. God's Spirit was with us, and many in the audience were really touched (not to mention everybody singing!). We enjoyed a fantastic spread of cookies and deserts in the basement, and then headed to Lisa's family's house for chillin' and dinner before leaving for the 7pm show.

I rode with Domenica and Lisa up to the second concert, which was an hour away up north. It was a nice church - nice sanctuary - and 140 people showed up! It was great to sing for such a large (and age-diverse) crowd, though it felt a little shakier than the first one. My legs were truly shot after that second hour-and-a-half of standing and holding my notebook. After another good spread of cookies we headed back home, stopping to grab a pizza at a random pizza place on the way. It was great to get to chill with Dom and Priceless and catch up with what's goin' on. Domenica is my official older sister, and it's always fun to hang with her and Lisa, the dynamic duo :-) Domenica should be moving back here from DC in February - none too soon in our opinion.

I drove home from Lisa's house, where I had left my car in the afternoon, arriving at 10:40, 14.5 hours after leaving this morning. Now it's 11:52, and I've accomplished my goal of catching up with stuff before midnight! I have made the quality decision to SCREW the homework due Monday, since I'm at about 98.5% in that class right now. This week has the appearances of a mild hell as I anticipate it in the future. In 4 days it will all be past and I will be the same, but right now I truly don't know how I will study for the beastin' test Tuesday, do Thursday's S&S homework, finish the CW discussion response with Sarah and write from scratch my CW assignment 10. Lord, help me! That's my prayer, and a good one it is, too.

Good-night.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand.
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessings in His hand,
Christ our God to Earth descending
Comes our homage to demand.

May it be so.

--Clear Ambassador