IT'S JUST BEEN A "CACA" OF A DAY - LITERALLY

Please pardon my "French," but from the moment I got to the office today, things started downhill at a pretty rapid pace...


Major serious caca:

1) A colleague who suffered a fall down the steps at his house this past weekend has taken a turn for the worse. Brain damage seems to be pretty severe, and a long, long-term recovery, without prediction of a return to "normalcy," seems to be the prognosis.


2) A former student of mine who became a Spanish teacher...a really, really wonderful man - has a newborn son who was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor last week. The two-month old was not responding to stimuli as of this morning. My heart is broken for this family.



3) Two other former students have had brain malfunctions in the past three weeks. One, a young woman who's the daughter of Eliza's first babysitter and who chose Eliza as the flower girl for her wedding, was pregnant, suffered a seizure, and later was subsequently diagnosed with a massive tumor in the brain. The baby was taken by C-section last week, and the mom's condition at this point in time is in limbo. The other had a stroke two Sundays ago...We're talking about two young women under 30 who've had their lives altered tremendously!! Yes, #3 above seems more and more insignificant.

4) My college roomate's father is in serious condition with bone cancer. She and I had a long talk last evening.

No so major, but not fun caca....

5) A very, very important member of my arts and humanities series committee resigned today, just out of the blue. I have no one who can do what she's done for us in the past three years, and I certainly can't take over her job.

6) All adjunct positions in Spanish where I teach part-time have been eliminated next year due to budget cuts. That means my extra income, the income I use after bills are paid, will cease to be. I think I could be waiting tables on the side next year.

Irritating and appropriate for the day caca:


7) Loonis threw up three times this morning --fortunately on the hardwood floors and not the carpet.



8) And finally, as I was working in the yard this afternoon making piles of branches and sticks to move down to the fire pit, I stepped in a HUGE pile of really smelly poop! How fitting, no?



I think I'd best go count my blessings!!!!