That's right. ICE. Ice everywhere! Including my front porch! The sidewalk in front of my porch. On my car!
As I was silently cursing (didn't want to wake the roommates) and wondering just how the hell I was gonna make it to school, I decided that I'd better check good ol' WPSU to see if maybe school was delayed for at least an hour. Ha! I wish! While other school districts in the area were either delayed 2 hrs or closed altogether, the powers that be at Penn State University decided that it was okay to send their faculty, staff, and students in to school on time. I know I tend to do a little more moaning and groaning on here than I should-- but when you've recently healed from a broken foot, the last thing you want to do is bite it again while you're trying to get to work. I guess I should just be happy that I didn't still have to wear "das boot," it wasn't much fun to tell you the truth.
On to other things...
I am sad to report that over the weekend (Friday to be exact), my family lost a very close friend to cancer. Jean was a very neat woman and she actually came into our lives accidentally and without realizing that she would probably have a very profound effect on us. I am sad to say that neither myself (for obvious reasons) nor my family was actually able to visit with her in her final days, but I guess in a way that means she lives on for me in a healthy state (as healthy as you could be with a pacemaker and some heart issues that she never let get her down!) somewhere in the distance. Although I am sure that my family has different reasons than I do for being so fond of her-- I personally admired her for her kind spirit, her approach to life, and the fact that she was a woman bravely battling the trials and tribulations of academia. We didn't get to talk much about her experience with it-- but she would share stories of her students, and I actually had a few friends who had her as their professor. It was interesting that Jean in the Classroom was exactly the same as Jean in Real Life.
I think, now that I've seen some of what can go on from the other side of the desk, that there are some parts of her that I'd like to be someday. She was human, she made mistakes; we all do. But, in the end-- you do the best you can with what God gives you. You persevere in the light of adversary and you do your best to befriend and respect your fellow man. Not always the easiest thing to do in my opinion. Most of all, you count your blessings and always take things one day at a time.
I'm really going to miss her... even though her funeral is actually going to be in Pittsburgh (where her family originated from), I'm sad that I won't get to go. And in a way, I don't want that to be my last memory of her.
The older I get, the harder it is sometimes for me to reconcile with death... but you have to do it in your own time and in your own way.
So, thanks for all the memories Jean... we'll miss you but know that somehow... you'll probably always be around.
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