Up to my ears in classes. Prepping, teaching, testing, grading.

The girls are winding down the school year so even when I get home there is more of the same.

Prom pictures came. They are really great and so sweet. You just pose differently when your prom date is a friend vs the boyfriend.

Speaking of...he is in my hospital with peritonitis. Just after AP exams last week he went in with abd pain and had an appendectomy. Leak or partial rupture and a few days later he had a relapse and so he is still here.

Kate has come a few times and brought him a DVD player, DVDs, CDs, cardgames, etc. She has not seen him though since Saturday because he became so ill. Last time she saw him he was still having "morphine moments" where he would talk out of his head. She was supposed to come today. But with 2 exams tomorrow....

So I brought prom pictures by (one in a frame) so he would know that she was thinkin of him. He was up in a chair and I was glad to be able to report how well he looked to Kate. He had even taken his first shower because she was coming to see him. Oops, tomorrow after exams will have to be soon enough. She has picked up his annual and is studiously taking it to each of his classes to get it signed. That will mean a lot to him.

We are just hoping he feels strong enough to get exams done and be able to walk the stage. I had been so worried when he got so much sicker while I was in Richmond.

Kate and Chris have been sheltered and I am not going to apologize for it. Maybe I am just too aware of loss and I know it was selfish to think of Kate more than even his Mom or Dad but...she is our daughter and we would save her from any pain we can. So hard when we know we cannot.

And now, he is doing great. I am so relieved for him, for his parents and for Kate. He can joke about prom pictures even while he looks at it with that big smile.

I know she will be relieved to see him tomorrow evening.

Friday is Senior day. Am program and then a day of field games. I guess after exams you have to complete the required number of days with them not interested in being there so you fill it with something. So, my class told me they wanted me to start class after and not to miss it. How sweet and what a gift to me. How very kind.

Nine days til graduation. I feel her changing and we are changing with her. So very strange. For those of you who have not become parents...this must seem silly to you. Your perspective remains very similar to Katie's. Others know just what I mean (Mel, Rhi) and that this is a right of passage for all of us. One that snuck up in the blink of an eye.

Nine days...after eighteen years. Wow.