Hey there

There's stuff happening behind this screen, and under normal circumstances I'd be posting about it all, but I'm so immersed in this chapter I'm writing, I seem to have no brain cells left over to compose my thoughts here. A few notes:

1. My son and his girlfriend are looking for an apartment. They put in an application for a garden apartment that they quickly realized was nicer than anything else they were seeing, but the owner seems reluctant to rent to them because they are not married. In 2017! She is afraid if they break up she will be left holding the bag financially. Isn't this why they ask for guarantors? I am philosophical. If it works out, cool, if not, they'll find something else. They already saw another place they like, though the second one is much further away from us, just across the bridge in another borough, so my son wouldn't be able to stop by and borrow the car as easily as if he lived just a few blocks away. There are certainly worse things.

2. My husband sliced off the top of his index finger with the fancy dancy chef knife our daughter gave him for Christmas. He and I were a comedy routine, both of us bent over the bathroom sink trying to stop the bleeding. We managed to wrap the finger with about a hundred band aids. Fortunately, our son, who is an EMT, came home from work soon after and treated and bandaged the wound very professionally. It was a bad cut, but a clean one, taking a corner of the nail bed. My man seems to be a good healer because it's sealing over very nicely. The man tried to be all blustery and macho and to tell our boy he was fine and didn't need his ministrations. My son wasn't having it. I was rather impressed with how he strong-armed his dad into just sitting there and letting him take care of him. I told him as much. He chuckled. "I don't take that mess from difficult patients who don't know what's best for them," he said. Good man.

3. My girl will be flying off to the other side of the world in March, meeting up with one of her friends in China and going on to Thailand with her. Right as news of the shooting at Fort Lauderdale airport was coming across the airwaves, she called to tell me she had booked her flights to Shanghai and Bangkok. "Wonderful," I told her. "You'll have fun." I got off the line and sent up a quick prayer for her safety.

4. My kids' significant others have been here a lot lately, and I enjoy their company. My kids are so happy around them, and the six of us laugh and talk and have a generally good time. The other day, we all watched the Ben Affleck movie The Accountant, which I would recommend. It was one of those rare psychological thrillers that answered every question I had by the end. And it kept us riveted. At one point I looked around the living room at everyone, their eyes glued to the screen, and I thought, This is a very fine gathering.

Okay, back to work. Please know I'm reading your blogs, but mostly on my phone late at night, and tapping out comments are a challenge. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programming soon. Wish me luck on this thing I'm doing! I'm a little in the weeds.