She's a lot better

My mom is on the mend. She appears to have had the flu, which is ever more debilitating in a 91-year-old. That same flu kept me in bed for three days after my son's graduation, and I believe I sent it on its way to Jamaica with my brother, who also was in bed for three days, and no doubt it claimed our mother, too. She sounds much clearer than she did a week ago, and she's happy, too, that we will be coming to visit her in a few short days. I can hardly wait. Truth is, I hate preparing to travel, both the mental preparations and the packing, but I will be just as happy when we are there with her. I'm thrilled my husband and daughter are making the trip, too.

While we're gone my cousin and family will stay in our apartment, so she can join my other cousin, the one who does college prep for kids from her husband's reservation in Montana every summer. They'll be bringing the kids on the New York leg of the program. This is their fourth year doing this. She has the kids do intensive ACT test prep classes, gives them career and college counseling, and takes them to interview workers in various capacities. My husband last year gave them a back stage tour of his museum. They also do a beach trip, visit the Washington D.C. monuments, and do a New York City tour. My cousin is an educator and a lawyer; her husband is a social worker. They live in Virginia and they both feel called to do this. So far, every single student who has gone through the program has enrolled in college after. My cousin and her husband are doing some good work with kids who really don't have many people pulling for them. I wrote about them before here.