Days 95 and 96: Amazing Grace

Gracie and I now have one campus class and all the online classes up and running.  We have just one more campus based class to go. Today, Gracie was very excited to get back to the campus after our Wednesday working from home--preparing class for today and keeping tabs on the online class discussions.  She knew where we were going--up to my office--and practically pulled me up there.  Today, though, instead of going right to class from the office the way we do on Tuesdays, we spent 50 minutes in the Writing Center.  On Thursdays this semester, we need to be opening up and turning on the Writing Center by 6:50 a.m. so the doors can open for students at 7:00 a.m.  I had a little trouble finding a suitable place to attach Gracie behind the desk.  But she has adapted magnificently to the idea that her rug/bathmat is "her place" and is happy to curl up on it while I help students.  Attaching her to something isn't really necessary, though it does signal that I don't want her wandering around.  Our writing center stint might as well have been our 30th session instead of our 1st, leaving me to wonder why I spent any time at all worrying about it.  She was the perfect dog during class too.  After class, she convinced me to take a walk on the Woodduck Trail...and a lovely walk it was.  Tomorrow we face a new challenge: a three hour afternoon class in a different classroom than the one the Tuesday/Thursday class meets in.  We will also spend another class hour (50 minutes) in the writing center during a potentially busier time.  I'll worry about these new challenges because that is apparently what I do.  Gracie, however, is both calm and enthusiastic.  She likes riding in the car, she likes going to class, she likes curling up in the corner of my office while I am on the computer, she likes going to the English department mailroom with me when I jump up to get my printing, she likes walking on the Woodduck Trail, and she likes coming back home.  I like having her with me.  Eventually, I may even have to give up worrying.