Me as a House Finch

19 November 2025: This little guy showed up on my bird feeder this morning and I decided he was my avatar for the day: tiny, round, red-headed, anxious, determined to gonna get sh*t done, pretending to be brave...

Got some good news from home (my brother's surgery went well) which helped make it a pretty decent day overall, all things considered. 

(Really enjoying using these bird snapshots as my personal memes...)

"Eternal Flame"

18 November 2025: You know you are emotionally and physically exhausted when the bridge of this song makes you start crying as you sit at your desk at 9:00 a.m. 

(To be honest, just the way she sings "so lonely" has gotten to me since I was a serious and weird little  kid. Now I am just a serious and weird adult. Ha!)

Back home...

17 November 2025: I don't think I've ever gotten back from New York and felt as strange as I did when I got home today. 

How strange to be back here and plan for getting back to "normal" when my dad is still so sick up there. 

How strange to move through every task and ordinary motion when nothing is resolved up there.

About an hour after I got home, I just sat down and took in the silence and sadness. 

Then I took a (less windy) walk and it helped.

Sitting here now with Jo and watching Bob's Burgers, which also helps. A lot.

But strange, strange, strange and so sad. 

Wind walk

16 November 2025: 

[Catch-up post]

Yesterday felt so long, but by 5:30 or so, I had only about 3500 steps. I also just needed to get out there and walk and think and just be alone for a bit--even though it was dark and my throat hurt and my voice was hoarse and there was a literal "gale force wind" warning.

There I was, for over an hour, doing laps at the high school, for almost all of it, the only lunatic on the track. At one point, the wind almost blew me over. 

But I did it and it helped and it felt good.

Erin gently teased me about my "wind walk," but I told her it was just what I needed. 

Small and cavernous....

15 November 2025: 

[Catch-up post...]

Every time I go back to the house I grew up in, I marvel at how small it seems. When we were young, seven people moved through there and it seemed big enough.

Seemed even smaller this time.

At the same time, with one person missing, it felt cavernously empty. 

Just want my dad back in that house. Can't get him home soon enough. 

Gratitude list...

14 November 2025: So much on my mind at the end of a long week that took an unexpectedly sad turn. As I sit here tonight, I am focusing on gratitude. 

Grateful for friends who show up, listen to me, and make me laugh. 

Grateful for students who responded with understanding and kindness and even concern. 

Grateful for work that I love that keeps me distracted when times are tough and keeps me around people who make me feel good.

People are beautiful and it's a privilege to be around them. 

"Our House"

13 November 2025: Thinking about my dad tonight, who isn't doing well. I have such a clear memory of him singing along to the radio with this when I was little.

Home by 5:30...

12 November 2025: Holy cow, did it feel good to be home before 5:30--and with a fresh haircut on top of that! 

I had time to get a few more work tasks accomplished, do some housework, make dinner, do the dishes, finish my steps...and all of that before 7:45. 

I need to remind myself of how this is normal for lots of folks and that I need to make it more normal for me. 

Someone else likes the idea, too. We can call this image "Jo and Poe (socks)."

November snapshots...

11 November 2025: A couple of snapshots that seem to sum up this marathon of days.

First, a kind of symbolic representation of my relationship to my house during this stretch in which I am both birds.

Second, a picture I took moments before I told Jo, "I'll be back right after trivia, I promise!" My heart sank as she settled down on my legs when I was home for about 30 minutes before heading back out again. She's clingy as heck when I'm gone a lot.

I also told her that I'll be home all evening tomorrow--and even get home before 5:00, if all goes as planned. 

14 hours...

10 November 2025: Fourteen hours of pretty-much non-stop work/keeping busy! Got to campus early, got to work right away, kept going until 6:00. Then straight to a substitute shift hosting trivia at Benders. Home by 9:00. 

Goodness--it's a lot and I am tired and there's so much more to do.

But it was a pretty decent day after all. And I got some good news about folks I love who are going through health stuff or who have loved ones going through health stuff. 

So, yeah...a good day. 

Home again...

9 November 2025: Didn't sleep too well at the hotel last night, so ended up sleeping in more than I meant to. But I also kind of loved not having to rush out or set an alarm. Made it home by 12:45 and have been a bit non-stop since then, handling the weekend's usual housework and laundry, hitting the grocery store, and getting ready for the week ahead. Almost through my very long list and taking a little Grey's Anatomy break while Jo sleeps on my legs. 

I think I am on the downslope of the marathon, but now I am thinking it's more like five weeks rather than three. At the very least, I am half-way through it, which feels pretty good. 

Vogel Time!

8 November 2025: Kicking myself that we didn't take any pictures, but after my presentation and a couple of panels this morning, I spent the rest of the day with Vogel. As always, it was awesome. 

SSAWW 2025

7 November 2025: Back at my favorite conference! Already had several quiet "fangirl" moments. I attended a session about how author societies can collaborate and speak to our current moment(s). What a perfect encapsulation of the kind of meaningful work these scholars do. 

A good win...

6 November 2025: Today at the BoG meeting, we voted (well, not me, since I am not a voting member) to approve a mechanism to reinvest in faculty and staff salaries. The road to this point has been really long and hard and painful. But this? It feels great. 

"Don't Hesitate"

5 November 2025: I saw this Mary Oliver poem being passed around on Bluesky this morning. Still holding onto the joy of last night's election results.