Down to the wire

I'm working on my last paper for this class, a  2500 word compare/contrast two books that relate to the course material. Every writing assignment feels like a huge deal, a major undertaking. In some ways, I feel very unprepared for this, as my undergraduate degree was in business, not humanities, so the writing courses I had to take for it were, in the most part the ones I took at Saint Joe's in the 1970s. That being said, I got a 15/15 on the research paper, and an 8.5/10 on the group assignment (annotated bibliography). I should have offered to be the one to put the final document together, but I didn't, so I can't complain about the grade.

A good friend tells me I obsess over grades too much, that the only thing that counts is getting the degree. I keep trying to convince myself of that, life would be so much easier. Still, I can't complain about the workload this semester. Taking just one class makes it much more doable. It drags it out a lot longer, but that is another story.

Well, did anyone notice that this really is not getting my paper written? Yeah, I did, too. So, back to work.

The death of holidays

I wonder when exactly holidays died at my house. When our children were small, and even up to a few years ago, holidays were about religion, getting together for a big meal, and all the other trappings. Even up to two years ago, we had the family over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. This year, nothing. John and I went to a movie and to Bill Grey's afterwards. Part of the difficulty is the religious differences between the Ks and us. They don't observe these holidays and it is uncomfortable to try and celebrate around them. When dad was alive (so up until 4 years ago), we always made sure to plan holiday celebrations that included him. And then, holidays became painful without him. And then school took over all my spare time, and here we are. The question is, do we stay in this mode, or look for a way to move forward?