Yesterday, I promised that we'd start filling you in on what Vicky and I have been up to since we last posted. But there's just SO MUCH, I don't know where to begin!!!
So, I'm going to take the same strategy I use when I'm trying to tidy up the house: I'm just going to get the easy stuff out of the way first.
Why do I suddenly have some time to work on the blog?
I'm on summer vacation! And it's the first summer break I've had as a newly-minted, tenured professor! March 15, exactly a week before Dad's birthday (which is kind of weird, since I filed for tenure exactly one week before Dad died), my Dean called to let me know that the University had decided that I should be awarded tenure, and that I've earned promotion to Associate Professor! The news has made this the first summer I feel like I can really enjoy, without the anxiety of moving, or wondering if I'm doing enough work, in years.
And what did Tenoch do on the anniversary of Mom's death?
The four-year anniversary of Mom's death fell on a teaching-day for me-- Monday, April 4. So, this made it the first year that I haven't been able to go down to San Diego to be with the family, and visit Mom's grave. I was really sad and worried about it, especially because Tenoch had to be in Sacramento that day, too. Tenoch knew this, but I didn't realize how much he understood, until... I walked into my office after a meeting, and saw these:
So, I'm going to take the same strategy I use when I'm trying to tidy up the house: I'm just going to get the easy stuff out of the way first.
Why do I suddenly have some time to work on the blog?
I'm on summer vacation! And it's the first summer break I've had as a newly-minted, tenured professor! March 15, exactly a week before Dad's birthday (which is kind of weird, since I filed for tenure exactly one week before Dad died), my Dean called to let me know that the University had decided that I should be awarded tenure, and that I've earned promotion to Associate Professor! The news has made this the first summer I feel like I can really enjoy, without the anxiety of moving, or wondering if I'm doing enough work, in years.
And what did Tenoch do on the anniversary of Mom's death?
The four-year anniversary of Mom's death fell on a teaching-day for me-- Monday, April 4. So, this made it the first year that I haven't been able to go down to San Diego to be with the family, and visit Mom's grave. I was really sad and worried about it, especially because Tenoch had to be in Sacramento that day, too. Tenoch knew this, but I didn't realize how much he understood, until... I walked into my office after a meeting, and saw these:
The most beautiful flowers I've ever received-- sitting on my desk! Tenoch had them delivered to work! (From a local florist called fleur*t-- which I thought was SO crazy. Get it? Tenoch Flores = t*flores!) (Oh-- wait. I want to mention that I got surprise-flowers from Krys, too, after she heard about my promotion. Those were gorgeous, too! Mom's favorites: tulips :) ) Fittingly, since Mom loved when stuff like this happened, since Mom's Anniversary, my female colleagues have been swooning over Tenoch's thoughtfulness-- it even inspired (pressured?) another hubby into having flowers delivered to my office-neighbor.
* Sidenote: I chose the title of today's blog because Mom also loved singing the theme from Love Story :)
Alright. That's all the easy stuff for today. More updates to come, so stay tuned. It gets gets juicier...
* Sidenote: I chose the title of today's blog because Mom also loved singing the theme from Love Story :)
Alright. That's all the easy stuff for today. More updates to come, so stay tuned. It gets gets juicier...