Linnea's 25th birthday

Today my girl is 25! Her cousin, Stephen, is turning 19 today also, so it is a day to celebrate. While I really wish that I was able to spend the day with her today, I did see her this weekend, and had made a commitment to do the Sweetser mini-golf today. I have returned to Maine last night after spending the past weekend in Pa. and Delaware, traveling on the train, driving a U-Haul filled with her stuff, and attending a CM Board meeting. It was busy, and hard loading and unloading all of her stuff, but it feels good to know she has her bed and her cat and is settling into her new life. I was so incredibly proud to see how much progress she has made. Now that she is working, she has a little more money, but significantly less time to complete work around the house. One of the guys she works with helped her to install a new floor in the living room, and it looks great!! She has been painting and working hard, and she is really moving to independence.

The work in Delaware was better than I had expected, so that was a nice treat. It is a great bunch of people to work with, all doing the same work that I do, and from all over the country. This weekend we were much more focused and productive than at other meetings in the past, so that was good.

The Peace Corp continues to be a point of frustration for me. I did go back to my doctor last week, and she gave me a new medication to try to address my (very) slightly elevated BP. I have one more round of blood work, and then that should be good. Given how this process has gone, I am losing steam on getting things done. While I would still like to travel and perhaps live overseas, I am to the place where I need to examine whether this is the plan for me, or if it might be something else. Maybe something a little more flexible....In any event, my health has never been better, and good things have come out of this process.

Not much of a word...

Well, I finally heard something from PC, but not exactly what I wanted to hear. I did hear from the PC nurse, who seems very nice and helpful, on the last day that I posted, July 5. She said that they need more hospital reports and pathology reports, and not just the information that was given to me. Also, more things spelled out as far as whether I can self-inject the B12 shot. So, I got all of that together and overnighted it to Washington last Tuesday, the 10th. Pretty quick turnaround, if I do say so myself. Today I heard back from Lesley, PC nurse, who said that I need one more round of bloodwork, as recommended by my PCP, and my blood pressure needs to be stable at a little lower level. It has been running around 140/80 and they need it to be below 120/80. All well and good, but all this anxiety about my future can't be helping my BP.

So, work is work, things are still unsettled about what happens next, and where I might be in a month, or even a week from now. As I said, not much is new. Mike is at Fenway tonight with his friend Chris Varney. I am heading out for a walk and doing wash. It has been really beautiful summer weather this week after a wet Sunday afternoon. I can't believe that July is half over. Summer is so short....

Still no word

I almost feel like I am not living my life while waiting to hear from the Peace Corp. It surely is testing my patience to sit with this. As soon as I know, either way, I feel like I will be able to move forward with action, and not just planning.

Yesterday was a funny holiday day off. I really have always liked Independence Day. Besides being fairly patriotic, I like the ideals that idependence promotes, and that we celebrate the concept as a part of our national consciousness. It is funny having a day off in the middle of the week. Today it feels a little bit like a Friday, and a little bit like a Monday. It is Thursday, however, and the work week is almost over. Last night it was fireworks in Bath, and jambalaya with Mike for dinner. It really was a quiet holiday.