Moving - AGAIN!

Once again we are packing up our office and moving temporarily while some areas of our building are being remodeled. Again, my cheese is being moved and I don’t like it – not one little bit.

The first 1/3 of 2013 has been a very difficult time in my life. Starting in January Vern was diagnosed with a recurrence of the cancer that he had starting in 2002. Yes, 9 years. Yes, scans were done for 5 years and everything was clear in March of 2009, and yes, now there is a large tumor again – GIST – and this one is in a spot that gives him a lot of digestive problems. Treatment has started – oral chemo. He has been pretty tired, so not much gets done except the necessities – like grading students’ work and finishing the semester, getting to doctor’s appointments, having blood tests, CT scans, and if he is able, a little grocery shopping and a few errands. That puts more of the monkey on my back.

Work has also been tough. Very unexpectedly my Dean resigned, effective immediately mid-March. That makes our office feel like a rudderless ship, although the person appointed to hold things together in the interim has been doing a fantastic job. Take that with upcoming workshops that I support that have been left hanging, and trying to pick up the pieces so that they all remain in place – well, daunting and stressful. I still intend to do my very best work to support all of this, but I am fearful something will slip through the cracks (notes, notes, notes and more notes). Add to this the fact that our production has been slipping BADLY for the last 5 or more years and that production no longer can justify three full-time administrative assistants, more stress has been added. My co-worker who has been loaned to another department half time for the last few months will be moving to that department permanently leaving us with one less full-time person. Guess who gets to pick up the slack? Guess I didn’t have enough on my plate. The hardest thing is that the two of us have sat side by side for 19 years. She taught me everything I know. She told me I had a year to learn everything. She’s given me 19 years – and I am still learning. We have grown so close we finish each other’s sentences. We know what each other is thinking. When one needs help, the other just automatically kicks in and lends a hand. I am not quite sure how I will deal without her to teach me some more. Thankfully, she is only an email or phone call away – if I need more teaching I will survive – but I am truly saddened by everything that has happened in the last few months.

And now we are moving this week to temporary quarters for the summer until we can get back in our office and then a planned permanent move for mid-2014. This old lady who never did like change even when she was young and fairly adaptable is now facing mountains of changes. I think I need to go buy a blood pressure device and begin checking the BP every day – before I blow sky high On a more serious note, I think I just need to walk away from the stress, literally! Walk 20 – 30 minutes every day. But with two jobs I always seem to find an excuse not to make the time to take care of myself.

Note to self: Walk, Walk, Walk! No excuses! Just DO IT!