Contrast in climates

Today is such a beautiful fall day. It's a temperate 70-somthing degrees and I feel great.

I had a good time raking thatch this weekend (and if you believe that I have a bridge that I would like to sell you;-) Actually, My big beautiful bearded collie, Winston and I went for a lovely drive with the wind flipping our hair in the breeze.

Here at work, we are going thru our annual justify-yourself-and-your-entire- existence exercise otherwise know as self-appraisals.

I don't know why we bother since we already know there will be so many exceeds consistently, exceeds, and so on down the evolutionary scale. All I can do is to take comfort in the fact that, considering the circumstances of my life, I did the best that I could do this year.

My son, David is beginning a new job today and learning a new skill. I told him that sometimes when God appears to take something away from you and you have to do something else to survive, you're adding to your skillset and thus making yourself more marketable. He looked at me like I had grown 2 heads or something.

My daughter is alternately working hard at school or freaking out depending on her workload. I often tell her that she needs balance, but I guess it's easy for me to say since I mostly do the same thing.
Parenting is hard work especially since I have adopted a handsoff policy. I mean, I'll be there for emergencies, etc. but I really would like to see a bit more independence in her.
She tries, but it's been hard for her since she has had a series of unfortunate events happen to her: Freshman year- she had the whole blood disorder contracted from food poisoning thing that almost killed her. Sophomore year- she remained in remission after a year from the blood disorder only to have the doctors diagnose her with a challenging heart disorder that severely limits her activities and may soon require a defribrillator implant.
Junior year- her insulin levels are elevated resulting in a skin disorder that neither one of us can pronounce.

How do you tell your child that everything will work out when each time she tries to stand on her own feet, she gets a punch in the stomach? She's only 20 now and has been going thru this since age 18.

I welcome any positive comments.