Saturday, August 22, 2015

This time of year...

One of the most daunting things on my agenda for this weekend is to "catch up on the blog."  August is as it always is: FULL!  Kali always has a birthday. We are always in the middle of the food processing crunch.  It is always my busiest work month.  The unique features of this particular August are that I'm 7+ months pregnant and we decided to squeeze in a 10 year celebration of our time here on Fruit Farm Lane.  For the above reasons, I haven't taken even a few moments to update this space with the various mundane, exciting, new and routine things that have filled our days.  I hope to get to some of that between today and tomorrow, because come Monday we start orientation week and my full attention will turn towards working with our incoming cohort of graduate students and getting the semester off the ground.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying a few days at home.  I think I canned the last pickles and beans yesterday and the first of many rounds of tomatoes.  We are swimming in squash, so I'm working to incorporate it into every meal (breakfast was squash sauteed with eggs; lunch is pasta, meat and sauce with more squash than tomatoes; haven't come up with dinner yet!).

But before I get too sidetracked, the thing on my mind as I sat down to write was the ways that this time of year is often reminiscent of the time leading up to our daughter Nora's birth.  It was in the days leading up to new student orientation that we learned that I would need to go onto bed rest (where I remained until her birth in late October).  This year the memories feel a little closer at hand for a variety of reasons:  Alida is a similar age and size as Kali was at that time and is wearing many of the clothes Kali wore that year; I'm pregnant again and while this baby is already larger than Nora was at birth it still brings those memories back in a more distinct way; Jason and I's preparation for the 10th anniversary (both going through pictures and writing a reflection to share with those gathered) was marked with many memories of that year (in many ways I think of our 10 years here as the time before Nora and the time after).

A few months back, Dr. Noreen Crain (who worked with us closely during the last week of Nora's life and with whom we have stayed in touch over the years since) contacted us asking if we would be ok with her using Nora's story as part of a TedX talk she had been asked to give.  We enjoyed the back and forth we had with her then, as we do all our interactions with her.  It brings the beauty of that time with Nora to the forefront, as her care for Nora and us was so powerful and a part of making our grieving process easier and in the end something that was in many ways life giving and empowering for us.

Last evening Noreen sent us the link to her sharing and so that is part of where my heart and mind are today.  For those that wish to listen to her talk about her work in pediatric palliative care, and in that line of work her intersection with our family, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8dvQ3B0J4M&list=PLGbqRRITUxfcJTKwOXiWuYbL5StylY_Um&index=8

And now things are breaking down on the home front (it's been a long week/month for this family and our kiddos have managed it all amazingly well overall!), so I better turn my attention to finishing up lunch. More later...

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