My Lost Summer

If my brain worked better, I'd have titled that last post "Change You Can Believe In." :-) Ah well -- hindsight and all that. It's always easier to think of witty headlines *after* the post has been published!

So I keep thinking of this past summer as my Lost Summer, admittedly because I think that sounds better than "Summer of My Gallbladder" or some such.

The good news is I'm fairly confident I'm over my gallbladder surgery and issues. I still have some GI issues that don't feel fully "normal" to me, but considering I started out the year back in January with a trip to the ER for intense intestinal cramping, I'm no longer entirely sure what my normal is.

So I'm somewhat reluctantly declaring this, whatever exactly this is, to be my new normal, from which I hope I can tell whether things improve, get worse or stay the same.

And it's good to be moving forward, even if it's just an inch or two.

I think Ellie will drag me forward whether I want to be or not! She started kindergarten on Sept. 1, about a week before the local public schools start. It's funny because, even more so than in preschool, it seems like if you ask her what they talked about in class that day, she says she doesn't remember. (And unlike in preschool, where the teachers posted a daily note so you could get a brief idea what they focused on that day, we are clueless other than what comes home in her backpack.)

And yet, little things come out in conversation, or even just her knowing the answer to something she didn't used to. Pretty cool. In less than a week, she learned how to swing by herself, about Rosh Hashana, and at least half a dozen Hebrew vocabulary words and phrases. Today, I learned that at some point she learned how to introduce herself in Hebrew. (She couldn't have learned it today because her school was closed yesterday and today for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.) She also has learned the Hebrew for the blessings over various types of food.

But, if you ask her, she hasn't really learned anything and they don't talk about anything in her classes. :-)

Between the start of school, something I never stopped calibrating my life by even though I haven't been a fulltime student since 1989, and Rosh Hashana, it feels like a good time to be leaving my GI stuff behind and moving forward.

After all, I have a kindergartner to try to keep up with!

L'shana tovah everyone! Whether you celebrate Rosh Hashana or not, I wish for all of you a good (or improved) health, much joy, and prosperity in the year ahead.