I haven’t written anything in my blog since November; not because I haven’t had anything to write about, but because I have been otherwise occupied. During the last two months, five of my high school classmates have passed away, one of them my college roommate.
He had been diagnosed with cancer in March of last year. Over his last 10 months we spoke on the phone every few weeks, and on three occasions we planned dinner, but each time he found himself too weak to attend. His body did not take well to the chemo and eventually it had to be discontinued. The last time we spoke was the day before we were to get together for a Christmas dinner at my home. He said his physical condition was such that he could no longer get out of bed. A week later, on Christmas day, his wife called and said that he was in intensive care; his organs failing fast. I went to the hospital that day to see him, but he was unconscious, a week later he passed away.
I have an email list of our class—supplied by the alumni office—and have used it to inform everyone of some event. I used it to try to get everyone to come to the last reunion, and to announce the death of a former teacher. When I sent out a message about his death I was shocked to find out through replies that four other classmates had died as well; all within about six weeks time. Needless to say, it is quite unsettling to be faced with the deaths of your friends, especially as many as this in a short time. Two of them passed away and were buried before I knew, but I was able to attend the wakes of the other three including my former roommate.
As far as school goes, we had a very successful open house for prospective students in early December, though the numbers at the entrance exam were a bit disappointing. On the bright side, the results of the exam indicate that the scores are up from last year, especially among the top students. All-in-all, our freshmen class next year should be about the same size as this year.
Semester exams went off without a hitch, and for the third year in a row I did not have any failures for the semester. After a somewhat restful Christmas break, the second semester began with a few changes in my class list. Friday we made it to mid-quarter.
My outside tutoring has been busy and I have been feeling the effects of long days, getting home after 8:00pm many times in recent weeks. I leave the house at about 6:30 am each morning. Last weekend I was so worn-out that I slept twelve hours Friday night, napped for four hours Saturday afternoon, and ten more hours Saturday night. I then spent eight hours Sunday grading papers and doing work for school. This weekend I have no school work to do so I am relaxing before another week of long days and late night tutoring sessions.
I have no interest in the Super Bowl beyond the numbers I got in the pool I joined. A batch of beef stew in the slow cooker today is awaiting my wife getting up after working last night at the hospital, and a possible visit from my daughter before she attends her super bowl party later.
