The first week at school is always exhausting for me: meeting new students and answering their questions, discovering that I left remnants of a previous semester on a course Website, and so forth. This week, I added Gracie into the mix. This meant keeping track of even more things, getting up even earlier than usual, factoring in breaks for her, and more. Friday was especially trying as we had a campus writing center hour to put in during the busiest time of the day followed by a three hour class. The class lasts until an hour before the building closes and the computer lab people turned off the computers in our classroom when they were shutting down the lab causing us to lose ten minutes of class time. Some students were then unable to finish the work on the classroom computers before the class ended and were left at lose ends because of it. By the time Gracie and I made it back to my office, there was just 1/2 an hour to go before the building was scheduled to be locked down. Facing the traffic jam of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic was not appealing. I considered spending time on the Wood Duck trail and then heading straight to the U of M campus to meet my youngest son for his birthday dinner, but someone with a large, unleashed dog--a golden doodle perhaps--was heading for the Wood Duck trail. Besides, it felt both hot and humid. I decided to brave the traffic. We made it home just in time for Gracie to eat and then to head out again. Dinner was in an Italian restaurant and, though a bit restless, Gracie did an admirable job after all the sitting she had done all day on campus. I wonder how long it will take me to integrate the extra things I need to keep track of for Gracie into my own routine? Gracie inspires me by how quickly she adapts. Of course, she is a lot younger than I am.
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