Sneezes come and sneezes go, but I will always be sick and tired

Thanks very much, Auggie. It was great seeing Adrian and having that really nice message, as well as the plug for the book. Please give Adrian our best and tell him that all the labels Shiela put up on things before he came—the little tags on things with their Spanish names written—are still up all over the house. We left them there not only as a memory to a kid trying to do her best in school and impress a visitor, but also because they remind us every day of our special friend, Adrian.

I don’t know if I told you, but I turned my second book over to the editor of the University of Nebraska Press a week ago on Thursday. It was a great feeling but also a sad one. Whenever I get a creative work out the door there is a deep sense of emptiness and sadness. It has been an avenue to discovering who I am for that moment or that time I worked on it. The space it inhabited is now a vacuum. But, fortunately, a vacuum draws other things into it, and this void will soon be filled again with creative energy.

Now that the book is out the door, my life for the next year will be dissertation, dissertation, dissertation. I have decided to put all distractions aside until that is completed. I can do it. I just have to get some done every day.

I hope that tomorrow I feel better than today. After such a nice celebration the other night, it’s almost as if I have to pay a price. I woke on Saturday morning with a terrible feeling of physical fatigue. I thought I was just tired and Julia’s weird alarm practices woke me before I was ready. (Her alarm always goes off at different times, it seems. And she doesn’t turn it off when she doesn’t have to get up, but hits the snooze time and again for hours.) But as the day wore on, it was obvious I was sick. Last night came the sore throat. Today the horrible onset of a cold. I feel rotten physically, and then I feel bad because Logan really needs my attention on the weekends. Fortunately, we were able to go to friends today. The kids played all day. It never ended with the pogo sticks and I had to pry Logan away at 7 p.m. finally to go home.

I have to run, as I want to get in a couple of notes before I pass out. Thanks again for the very cool and heartwarming birthday surprise. Please make sure our other favorite uncle gets a hug from us and all the best to Adrian.

Patrick