The 43

I say this every year, but this year it's seriously truer than ever -- the last 12 months have gone by incredibly fast.  I wonder that when things are just crazy/kind of bad, the brain's perception of time speeds up to protect itself. That doesn't explain why time flies when you're having fun, or the years zipping past so quickly as the boys were growing up, but that's the explanation I'm going with for this evening. I have returned to Donner Park for my annual summer solstice post, a few days too late because of clouds and a Weird Al Yankovic concert that Benji and I attended last night. It has already been six weeks since I was laid off, two months since my sabbatical (thank God I took it before being let go), six months since Christmas, nearly eight since the election (ugh), 10 since we moved Benji into the dorms, and nearly 11 since Ben and I visited Chicago last summer . All these events seem so recent but are in the past. And nothing is slowing time down....

I'm nearly two weeks into a regularly scheduled vacation but three weeks into a semi-permanent vacation. On May 14, I was laid off from my job of more than 10 years.  To say it's been weird is an understatement. I won't delve into the details of the layoff -- I've thought about it too much already -- and I have leads and opportunities ahead.   I just ... can't ... seem ... to chill.  The vacation was already on the books, and it has been nice. The boys, Michael's girlfriend and I drove from Utah to Northern Wisconsin first. After a couple days there, we drove to Chicago, did some fun stuff, attended my cousin's wedding, and visited with family. The three kids returned to Utah, and I'm staying an extra week. I did this weeklong on-my-own trip to Chicago last year and loved it. I spent a day downtown, explored my old haunts, did some writing, visited friends, and unwound. I was planning it again for July, but then the layoff happened. I figured, if it...